Meet our leadership team

How long have you worked at Ashorne Hill for?
I’ve worked at Ashorne Hill for five years.

Following your promotion, how has your role changed and what is your main focus now?

I first joined Ashorne Hill as Business Development Manager focussing mainly on driving venue business. With my promotion a few months ago to Business Development Director my role now is to manage all proactive activity to sell the entire Ashorne Hill experience. Our focus is to build one Ashorne Hill and I’m now able to help to merge the business together to represent both learning and venue in terms of Business Development and Marketing. I now also sit on the leadership team which has been a great step up for both my career and personal development.

Wow, 21 years at Ashorne Hill. Tell us a bit about your story?  How you joined Ashorne Hill and how you ended up as General Manager.

When I was 10 I wanted to be a chef and then when I was 14 I went to work as a banqueting waitress in a local hotel.  Before I knew it I had graduated from Manchester Polytechnic in 1990 with a Degree in Hotel and Catering Management and a place on a graduate development programme with De Vere Hotels. I joined Ashorne Hill in 2001 as their first Conference Manager, when Ashorne Hill was only just taking the commercial venue seriously.  My role has changed every few years and I’ve had plenty of development whilst the venue business has grown from strength to strength.  I became General Manager in 2013 and life has certainly not been boring since then!

Ashorne Hill’s mission is to create growth through people, you’ve developed your career at Ashorne Hill, can you explain a little about how your career was allowed to grow at Ashorne Hill and how other people looking to start a career in hospitality can benefit from the development opportunities that Ashorne Hill presents?

The approach at Ashorne Hill has always been about helping people make a difference.  My managers have always encouraged and allowed me to flourish and I have been given many opportunities over the 21 years to step into more challenging and rewarding positions.  My own philosophy is that I want to make the people who work for me the best they can be and I don’t want to hold anyone back from reaching their own personal potential.  I am really proud that a good few of my team have actually been promoted into higher roles (now my direct reports) and this follows down the ranks.  We are not for standing still at Ashorne Hill and if we can develop individuals and departments to make a difference then I’m happy.  I believe that our nurturing approach allows people to grow.

Before we dive into the menus, Stuart, you’ve been at Ashorne Hill for 19 years. Tell us about what you’ve achieved during your time here?

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time so far at Ashorne Hill and I’ve been allowed to develop my team and my kitchen to deliver great delegate experiences.  Some of the projects I’m most proud of include:

• Design and build of a new kitchen to improve the kitchen facilities, the flow of the kitchen service and really improve our output.
• When I arrived the catering was largely provided by a third party but I nurtured my own team and brought the whole operation in house.
• Listening to our delegates, trainees and understanding food trends, I’ve grown the food offering massively with some really amazing feedback.
• My team has a lot of loyalty and long service, largely down to my encouragement for them to grow and giving each team member the opportunity to be promoted from within.

So Jon, tell us a little bit about yourself and how your career led you to Ashorne Hill?

I’ve worked in automotive for the past 30 years in Human Resources.  I started at Ford as a graduate trainee and then came to Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) when Ford acquired Land Rover in 2000.  I always wanted to work in Learning & Development but over the years have tended to gravitate towards Manufacturing and Employee Relations.  For the past 12 years I was manufacturing HR Director and I’ve played a big part in developing the strong relationship that JLR enjoys with their Trade Union partners.  But finally the opportunity came to move into the L&D space and I’m really excited to be doing so in such a beautiful venue and with such a fantastic team.