OUR IN-HOUSE TEAM

Off to Work’s office team is drawn together to bring an expert understanding of the needs of the events industry. The management structure has been brought together not from a recruitment background but all from an event and catering background to ensure that we understand your needs and provide you with the product and service you want.

Philip has been involved in the hospitality industry for over ten years and brings an immense amount of event management, personnel training and recruitment experience to Off to Work.

After studying a BA (Hons) Degree in Hospitality management Philip joined the Regent group of Hotels and was part of the opening team of the five star Regent London Hotel, now known as The Landmark Hotel.

He left the Regent to move into Front of House Management at the world famous Madame Tussaud’s. After a successful period in Front of House, during which Philip moved into conference and banqueting at Madame Tussaud’s. His role encompassed event sales, client liaison and event duty management. To fulfil his role he was also a Building Controller in charge of the whole building making the decision on any security alerts or major operational problems daytime or evening.

Philip left Madame Tussaud’s to become Operations Manager of Events at The Natural History Museum, London. The museum has been one of the most successful unique venues in London hosting up to 180 events every year. It is also the industry leader in its commitment to the upholding of health & safety and damage limitation to the fabric of its building. The role at the museum increased his experience in both event management and venue management with Philip overseeing and managing near to 300 events in his time at the museum and all departmental operational issues. Philip also had the opportunity whilst there to go and study in Florida at the Disney University on the 'Disney Approach to Quality Service', improving his overall understanding of what service standards can be achieved by total quality management.

Philip was then headhunted by First Protocol to continue in event management, dealing with clients such as BT and Mastercard, and managing all events that came through Vinopolis.

Following his seven years of Event Management experience Philip left First Protocol to set-up Off to Work. The company was formed with the maxim that something better could be added to the industry in terms of the quality of staff that were being brought into it and the way that they are dealt with. Off to Work was to provide a professional, customer focused and courteous service to both external and internal customers. This overall philosophy has been achieved and is the main rudder to all Off to Work’s proceedings. Philip believes in a CANI (Constant And Never-ending Innovation) approach to business looking to improve the service of Off to Work and to create additional synergy with our clients at every opportunity.

"The biggest challenge with providing exceptional staff to the very highest end of the events/hospitality industry lays within finding the right mix of people. Sourcing a group of models for a one-off product launch, when appearance is everything, is not particularly difficult and it is something we can do quite easily. The challenge in staffing is having a superbly presentable team, all arriving on time and happily working throughout the day/night with a smile on their face and great, positive and flexible attitude in their back pack."

"I feel that we have successfully managed to put this mix together and that this is where we stand out from our competition. I take it as my never ending roll within Off to Work to continuously motivate the team and to make sure we keep on getting the right people with the right attitude and aptitude through our books. Luckily for us our hard work with building this team has paid off and new offtoworkers quickly pick up on our team culture and attitude towards work in hospitality."

A 12 year old Robert sold his first hotdog on his local racecourse in Sweden and he has never really looked back. Every summer was spent working in hospitality either in trendy bars or in top class restaurants. After graduating from Mid Sweden University with a degree in Communications and PR, specialising in events management, Robert worked in marketing and external communications in Sweden and in London.

Prior to joining Off to Work Robert worked as an Events Manager for Inn or Out Ltd looking after blue chip corporate directors, Royalties, Presidents and A-class celebrities. Robert has planned, organised and seen through a vast number of top end events ranging from concerts in Hyde Park and Gala Casino Launches in Sweden to Corporate Dinners at the Natural History Museum.

Robert is always happy to provide advice if you need help with organising an event and he often works as an events manager on the field for many of our clients. "The more I can help our clients the more successful they will be which in turn benefits what we do. We’d be stupid to say that we only provide the staff when we have so much experience in house to provide further events support. To work in a partnership is key to successful events management."

Robert joined Off to Work in October 2003 as the General Manager with the intention to add an extra dimension of Catering and Events Management experience to the already dynamic team. He firmly believes in creating win-win zones between all parts in every business situation, and he is extremely service minded and will always go out of his way to provide you with the support you need and beyond. Robert was promoted to Director of Operations in May 2007.

If you have any questions regarding our team, events management, restaurant management or front of house hospitality in general then please do not hesitate to contact Robert for advice or support.

Katie graduated in 2001 from the Birmingham College of Food with a Hospitality Management degree and have since worked in 4 star hotels in both Dublin and Birmingham. In 2003 she joined the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham as a Staffing Officer to gain a ‘back of house’ perspective on event operations and in 2004 Katie was promoted to Recruitment & Deployment Manager for the NEC Group’s city centre venues comprising of: The ICC, The NIA, Symphony Hall and Wine Republic.

In August 2007 Katie joined Off to Work as General Manager for the Birmingham Office with her aim being to ensure that the growing database of clients within the Midlands region receive the best possible hospitality professionals.

Katie brings with her vast HR and events management experience so please do not hesitate to contact her for support or advice for your staffing or events management requirements in the West Midlands.

Lucie's background originates in the arts sector, having studied BA (Hons) Textiles at Goldsmith’s College. She graduated with a 2:1 in June 2004 from this broad, multi-disciplinary course that encompassed all aspects of textile art and design. Her final year culminated in a public exhibition for which she played a pivotal role in organising fundraising events and assisting with the co-ordination of the exhibition.

It was during her second year of studies that Lucie joined the Off to Work team, providing her with the opportunity to work at many exclusive and prestigious events. These have included a private party for Damon Albarn, and serving Princes William and Harry at the 'society event of the year' - the wedding for the Duke and Duchess of Westminster’s daughter.

After graduating Lucie focused her sights on the events industry. She flourished in the sociable, fast paced atmosphere, injecting her creative flair and meticulous attention to detail. At the beginning of 2004 Lucie's efforts were rewarded when she won the Off to Work employee of the year award - a trip to St Tropez. Shortly after this, Lucie joined the operations team, first as Operations Assistant, and then as Operations Manager.

Lucie relishes working on the 'other side' of the events industry, working closely with clients to develop our product to meet their specific staffing needs. Lucie also assists with internal recruitment for Off to Work, helping to build upon the high quality team that already exists.

Nicola’s career in the hospitality industry spans over 10 years from waitressing as a student at events like Henley Regatta to event management with various leading event caterers to providing staffing for some of London’s largest marquees and venues.

After studying for a BA(honour’s) degree in Hospitality and Business Management at Oxford Brookes University Nicola worked with Alexander Catering as an event manager providing support at events such as the NME awards and at venues such as Reading Football Club. She soon progressed to Operations Manager managing all event catering at Thorpe Park and Chessington World of Adventures.

Following a years travelling and a stint working in Sydney at various events and venues she returned to London and spent almost 2 years with City Centre supplying all categories of hospitality staff throughout London, as well as continuing to work as a casual manager on a number of events such as the Paris and Farnborough Airshows.

Nicola joined Off to Work in March 2007 in order to focus on high profile events and to put her event management skills into more use. She strives on developing strong and honest relationships with her clients and staff alike and will combine her recruiting and operational expertise to further enhance Off to Work’s services.

Of all the in house team in the office Nicola is the one who does the most event management. Please do not hesitate to contact her directly if you need an experienced events manager for your high profile event.

Sarah joined the Off to Work casual team in 2006 and has worked at many prestigious events across London including the All Saints launch gig, the Harper's Bazaar conference, and most recently the Brit Awards. Prior experiences at The Royal Opera House and The Hurlingham Club have given her valuable skills and knowledge in all aspects of organising events and delivering high quality customer service.

After graduating from Arts Educational Drama School London, Sarah worked extensively in theatre and television in the UK and France. In addition to acting, she worked on the sales and marketing side of the industry, liaising between the British embassy and the French press to promote English theatre in France.

Sarah is a natural communicator and motivator and looks forward to working with the clients and staff to fulfil their needs.

Bronwen joined the Off to Work office as the recruitment manager after 3 and a half years working for OtW as a member of the waiting team. Bronwen brings a diverse professional background with her, having left her position as programming assistant/reporter at the Islam TC Channel in London to join the OtW office.

After completing her 2.1 in BA (Hons) in Journalism and Print Media in London, Bronwen carried out a postgraduate course in Creative and Media Enterprise at the University of Warwick. Her professional experience in the events sector began while at Warwick where she lead a marketing team full-time for the AC21 International Forum ‘Global Education; Universities in the 21st Century’, while completing her cutting-edge thesis on the state of E-commerce in China. Before her studies were up, she was recruited as Creative Event and Communications Consultant by a Canadian company.

In Canada she was responsible for organising and running a 3-day symposium and assisted with the media coverage of a provincial road show, consulting for the Government of Canada for the ‘Campus 2020’ initiative. This built upon her existing experience examining the state of post-secondary education. While consulting in Canada Bronwen devised communication and branding campaigns and lead the facilitation and implementation of the strategies for her clients.

Bronwen aspired to work for OtW because she admired the company’s passion and dedication to changing the face of the part-time workforce in the events industry.

As recruitment manager Bronwen has great interpersonal skills and an intuitive persona and she takes personal pride in recruiting only the greatest of staff to strengthen and develop the OtW team. She communicates regularly with our clients to ensure she has a perfect understanding of their requirements and she will immediately pass on the right type of person to our different operations managers and their clients.

In addition to being recruitment manager, Bronwen is able to supervise and manage events for our clients.

Sean has been in the hospitality industry since he was fourteen and has been inspired to provide excellent customer satisfaction ever since day one.

From Cafés, Bars, Restaurants, Night Clubs, Hotels and Events, Sean has seen a lot, and experienced even more. Enjoying the hustle and bustle from being a waiter, to moving up the ranks quickly and exploring various management roles.

Working with Off to Work Sean feels motivated to inspire and teach the team and always aim to use his broad knowledge to benefit those around him and eventually the customer. He has picked up some very useful abilities and life skills throughout his years in the industry, also including a high calibre of professionalism and a meticulous attention to detail.

Sean loves to be challenged and is very passionate about any project that he takes on. He is always looking towards the positive side of any situation. Calm under pressure and only wants the best result possible.

Sean’s role as Bar Operations Manager will be to focus on the development of our casual bar team. We believe that he is an excellent asset to any organisation and are in high hopes that he will lead our bar team from strength to strength. Special bar trainings have been developed and from now on you can order anything from a fantastic flair cocktail bartender to a team of 50 efficient and friendly bar tenders for your high profile events.

He has also helped us develop our barista team further and constant trainings take place in our training unit on our £5000.00 coffee machine. I.e. any barista we send out to you will have a proven track record with Off to Work, on our industrial barista/coffee machine, as excellent barista’s.

If you wish to speak with Sean regarding your bar requirements or if you are looking for ideas for exciting seasonal cocktail recipes then please do not hesitate to call him at any time. For your benefit Sean also work at events managing our bar team to please speak to him about booking him to make your events extra special.

Clare’s experience prior to Off To Work has been across the hospitality industry, working on both the operational and administration sides, with companies that include First Protocol Event Management, The Millennium Dome, Unique Entertainment Production and Design, Riki Tik Productions and Battersea Arts Centre.

Clare’s role as PA to Philip Atkins; Director, and office support to the Off To Work team, has involved implementing new systems and procedures to improve efficiency, and coordinating the new office move as Off To Work expands its successful operations.

Peter joined the Off to Work team in June 2007 and he brings extensive experience from accountancy and payroll. After studying MBA Degree in Finance, Peter held a one-year financial internship in the USA. Peter had been in London for 2 years before joining the Off to Work.

His responsibilities include invoicing clients, payroll and financial support for the team. He is always willing to help with your payroll queries so do not hesitate to ask.