I have been in the role of Divisional Technical Director for Pest Control since November 2007, taking responsibility for R&D, Technical Services, Health and Safety and providing functional leadership to the Technical Managers in our business units world wide. Prior to Rentokil, I worked for ICI, Unilever and McCormick. I also ran my own business: Excellence by Design that attempted to benchmark the processes of innovation, design and project management to help companies optimise their performance, skills that I am still using even now. Although a far cry from the Premiership, I can sometimes be seen on the football pitch in a referee’s outfit or standing in front of a jazz band playing clarinet.