Meet the Team

Lesley was appointed CEO of British Marine in mid-2018. Prior to joining, Lesley was Managing Director at MDL Marinas, Europe’s leading Marina operator.

Previous to this, her commercial career has spanned leisure, consumer goods, media and IT and she was also a Director of the Money Advice Service, leading corporate services and heading up the Service’s debt advice programme in the UK. At British Marine, Lesley is an executive main board director with specific responsibility for the strategic direction of the organisation, working in conjunction with both board and members, and its execution through her team at Tagus House.

She is also Vice-Chair and Trustee of Ocean Youth Trust South and a Non-Executive Director of Police Crime Prevention Initiatives. Lesley is a qualified chartered accountant by background. Lesley was recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2021, appointed to the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to the Leisure Marine Sector.

In her spare time, Lesley enjoys traveling with her husband (97 countries to date and counting). She also enjoys good food and wine, hill walking and the very occasional half marathon to burn off the resulting calories. Her current passion on the water is Stand-up Paddleboarding.

Simon joined as Commercial Director at the end of 2021. He brings a wealth of sales and marketing experience built up over 25 years launching some of the UK’s largest e-commerce platforms.

At British Marine, Simon is responsible for the Commercial and Communication teams including all of our events and new member acquisition. Simon and his team  relish the opportunity to work with our members to help them achieve their objectives, including building brands and acquiring and retaining customers.

When not running marathons, 30+ to date, including the last 21 London Marathons – he will be found on or by the water. Most recently supporting his boys in their quest to retain their various National Rowing titles won last year!

Earle joined British Marine at the beginning of 2020.  His previous career started in corporate finance working for the Danish Group ISS before moving into the Oil and Gas sector.  From there he successfully transitioned into the SME space with the marine engineering firm Burgess Marine where he oversaw high profile projects including two significant superyacht refits.

Earle is an executive main board member for British Marine and is responsible for the groups Finance, IT and Property departments and works closely with the Finance Audit and Risk committee.  He is a qualified accountant and holds an MBA in Strategic Leadership from Portsmouth University.

Outside of work, Earle is a keen tennis player and whilst living on the Isle of Wight enjoys being on, in or under the water at every opportunity.

Brian returned to British Marine in February 2019 after working for the National Caravan Council as their Head of Government Relations and Policy. Before that, Brian spent 13 years at British Marine, first joining in 2005 as Environment Executive before progressing to Head of External Relations.

Before joining British Marine, Brian worked for the Environment Agency as an Environment Management Officer where he was responsible for dealing with pollution control incidents and environment management inspections of businesses in the Thames Valley.

Brian is now responsible for the development and delivery of thought leadership and strategic policy direction for the Association and implementing substantive change through key stakeholder management at the highest level for British Marine and the UK leisure marine industry as a whole. He is also responsible for developing the research that British Marine produces to support the marine industry.

In his spare time, Brian is a keen DIYer, Spurs fan and supporter of his son’s football teams! You can follow Brian on Twitter here. 

Adrien joined British Marine in 2019. Prior to this, he enjoyed working for a number of established marine brands including MDL Marinas, Gill and Oceanair (now Dometic). 

At British Marine, Adrien is responsible for the Association’s marketing communications. This includes all member and stakeholder communications and the promotion of prestigious events such as Southampton International Boat Show, London Luxury Afloat and the British Marine National Conference.

A keen leisure marine enthusiast, in his spare time Adrien enjoys spending time out on the water with his family and friends.

Brian returned to British Marine in February 2019 after working for the National Caravan Council as their Head of Government Relations and Policy. Before that, Brian spent 13 years at British Marine, first joining in 2005 as Environment Executive before progressing to Head of External Relations.

Before joining British Marine, Brian worked for the Environment Agency as an Environment Management Officer where he was responsible for dealing with pollution control incidents and environment management inspections of businesses in the Thames Valley.

Brian is now responsible for the development and delivery of thought leadership and strategic policy direction for the Association and implementing substantive change through key stakeholder management at the highest level for British Marine and the UK leisure marine industry as a whole. He is also responsible for developing the research that British Marine produces to support the marine industry.

In his spare time, Brian is a keen DIYer, Spurs fan and supporter of his son’s football teams! You can follow Brian on Twitter here. 

Amy joined British Marine in 2020 as the Association Executive in the membership team. Amy has come from a substantial career in customer service, project management and account management, with a childhood and early adulthood background in leisure boating and sailing with the Sea Cadets. In 2024, Amy was promoted to Association and Membership Manager after developing knowledge and experience during her time as Association Executive, and Interim Senior Membership and Association Executive.

Amy is responsible for overseeing the administration and communications for the membership team and managing several of British Marine’s membership associations and their events.

• British Marine Trades Association
• British Marine Boat Retailers and Brokers Association
• British Marine South and Isle of Wight
• British Marine Boatbuilders Association
• British Marine East Anglia
• British Marine North
• British Marine Wales

Amy also has excellent skills with reporting and witchcraft (or so it seems) with Microsoft Excel, as she loves to experiment and learn new techniques to make every day smarter and better than the day before. Amy’s real passion for her job comes from her love of helping people and giving the best service she can.

In her own time, Amy loves to tinker with textiles arts, from crochet to sewing, embroidery and sometimes even upholstery. She spends a lot of time with her friends, her fiancé and her rescue dog, Boycie.

Read Amy's full story here.

Nickie joined British Marine in during lockdown 2020 as an Association Executive and the July of 2024 was promoted to Association Manager. Prior to this she spent 10 years working in her local government in the Fleet and Transport department. Nickie has had a varied career which included owning a pub for 6 years! 

At British Marine Nickie has a face-to-face role within the membership team and gets to meet many members, covering mainly inland associations. Her role is varied and includes organising events and conferences for associations, attending shows, and visiting members.

Nickie currently manages 8 Associations

• British Marine Midlands
• British Marine Inland Boating
• British Marine Inland Boatbuilding
• British Marine Engines & Equipment
• British Marine Professional Services Association
• British Marine Passenger Boat Association
• British Marine Commercial Marine

Liaison Manager for:

• Broads Hire Boat Federation
• British Marine Electrics and Electronics

In her spare time Nickie enjoys a walking her crazy cocker spaniel, gardening, cooking, travelling at home and abroad – her favourite places so far being Italy, Greece and Cornwall and she would love to go to Japan one day. Nickie enjoys spending weekends with her family and has 4 grown up children and 3 grandchildren.

Sarah joined British Marine in 2006. Prior to working at British Marine, she worked for BAA, Heathrow Airport, as an induction and training assistant where she worked on the Terminal 5 project.

Sarah started as a postroom assistant in 2012 and progressed to Facilities Manager at Marine House in Egham. In February 2023 she relocated to Tagus House and now works within the Membership Team as their Membership Services Assistant.

In her spare time, Sarah enjoys spending time with her friends and family, cooking and reading. She also loves music, attending live gigs and visiting the cinema.

Prior to joining BM, I was a teacher for 20+ years. I taught in a local Secondary School teaching French and Spanish whilst also heading up the health education department. In 2020, I decided I needed a career change and have done a variety of roles. I worked as project manager for a local industrial cleaning company setting up their French subsidiary and then moved to another local industrial cleaning company and worked as an international sales administrator providing customer support to clients all over the world. More recently, I worked for Manpower on the Royal Mail contract as a consultant recruiting and managing drivers.

In my spare time, I love to read and watch films. My love of languages also gave me a love of travel, having lived abroad for a year. However, there is still a lot of the world I want to see, including the pyramids in Egypt and the Taj Mahal in India. I also love embroidery, scrapbooking and baking. More recently, I spend time going on walks by the sea with my 2 year old Bernese Mountain Dog Milo. I love animals, and along with Milo, I have 2 cats called Brandy and Bailey. I love spending time with my family and friends, including my husband and 2 teenagers.

Beckie recently joined British Marine as a Membership and Association Executive. Before this, she spent 3.5 years at Checkatrade, where she worked her way up to Membership Experience Team Leader. Beckie is passionate about making sure our members have the best possible experience and is excited to work with the British Marine community. 

In her spare time, Beckie loves to travel, Japan is her favourite country so far! She also enjoys hot yoga and the gym. 

Jon joined British Marine in 2014. He works solely for The Yacht Harbour Association (TYHA). Before he joined British Marine, Jon worked for the RYA on a range of projects in the leisure marine industry and the marina sector.

Jon is responsible for managing TYHA, the international members association for the support and development of marinas. He is a member of the ICOMIA Marinas Group and sits on the Global Marina Institute advisory board. Since joining TYHA, Jon has built a close working relationship with the Marina Industries Association and partnered with them in the re-development of the Gold Anchor global marina accreditation scheme.

In his spare time, Jon enjoys mountain biking, kayaking, sailing, hill walking and spending time with his family.

Hayley looks after our International Membership and also the Gold Anchor and Clean Marina Accreditation Schemes. She is responsible for arranging TYHA networking events including, Southampton International Boat Show TYHA Find a Marina Stand, TYHA Biennial Marina Conference and Knowledge Networking Tour. In addition to this, Hayley also works on the creation of the TYHA Quarterly Fore & Aft Magazine and the day-to-day admin and enquiries and accounts.

In her free time, she enjoys spending time with my husband, daughter Bethany and her Shih-tzu dog, Gizmo. She loves to go skiing, travelling, and taking her daughter to different countries.

Manj joined British Marine in January of 2022, bringing with him a wealth of experience and knowledge of the Skills and Apprenticeships sector.  It’s a sector Manj has worked in for 16 years, across varying settings that included Private Training Providers, Charitable Organisations and Further Education College.

At British Marine, Manj is responsible for all domestic and international training events, being the Responsible Officer for our End Point Assessment service and leading a number of projects that serve to expand upon our current course, training and qualification routes.

Away from British Marine, Manj enjoys socialising with family and friends, has a passion for photography and enjoys keeping fit through sports; namely Tennis, Football and Badminton. 

Read Manj's full story here

Vicki’s experience spans the public and private sector where she has a number of years experience working in education and the sport and leisure industries.

As the Training and Events Executive, Vicki is responsible for organising all short training courses for British Marine members, she also provides advice and guidance to members about what training course are best aligned with their educational/career plans. She loves working in training and helping our members upskill and achieve more within their business.

Owen is the End point Assessment Coordinator at British Marine. He is an Apprentice currently undergoing his Business Administration Level 2 Apprenticeship. He deals with all assessments that come his way to make sure that they are done quickly and of high a quality as possible. Owen comes into this role with little experience having recently left college but has a plethora of new and exciting ideas to improve the End Point Assessment experience for Apprentices, Assessors, Employers and Training providers.

Amongst this Owen has an interest in Formula 1, Basketball and holds a season ticket at St. Mary’s travelling as much as possible to watch the team.

Ed joined British Marine in 2016. Previously he has worked for Fairline Yachts, Discovery Yachts and Blyth Workcats. He studied Marine Sport Technology at Plymouth University, which is recognised by the Institute for Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST). 

At British Marine Ed looks after the passenger boat, small commercial and superyacht technical guidance and standards. He is also the chair of the PBA Technical Sub-Committee, convenor of ISO working group TC8SC12WG3, participant in WG5 and organiser of the Superyacht UK Technical seminar.

In his spare time Ed enjoys looking after his five beehives based in West Sussex and produces his own honey and lip balms for the team at Marine House. He also enjoys wakeboarding in summer.

Adam joined British Marine in 2024 following on from a career almost exclusively in the Marine Industry.

For three years he was the Coxswain of the most northerly lifeboat in the UK before moving to lead the United Kingdom’s only full time, all weather lifeboat station based at Spurn Point in the River Humber.

Adam originally studied Naval Architecture for small craft and then went on to forge a career as a professional sailor. He has worked building racing yachts and motor boats for companies on the South Coast including the Paralympic Sonar Class.

Adams role in the technical team can vary from giving support and guidance to members to sitting on technical committees. His background in small craft design and construction gives him a direct insight into our member’s needs.

In his free time Adam still sails competitively when he is not walking with his wife and their two dogs on the Isle of Wight where they now live.

Ross joined British Marine as a Technical Executive in 2014.

He has worked in the marine industry since the age of 18 in various roles ranging from a Dive Vessel Coxswain in South Devon and crewing onboard tall ships including Kaskelot, Earl of Pembroke and Phoenix, to an independent surveyor in the Balearics, Spain.

Ross's role at British Marine is to represent the UK marine industry in discussions with national and international standards bodies and regulators and to provide members with comprehensive technical advice and guidance. This role includes chairing the British Standards Small Craft Committee and representing UK interests in the ISO standards development of both small craft and large yacht standards.

An interesting fact, Ross appears twice in the 2000 film Longitude. If you watch the trailer closely you can see him stood on top of the tall ship Kaskelots main T’gallant yard.

Brian returned to British Marine in February 2019 after working for the National Caravan Council as their Head of Government Relations and Policy. Before that, Brian spent 13 years at British Marine, first joining in 2005 as Environment Executive before progressing to Head of External Relations.

Before joining British Marine, Brian worked for the Environment Agency as an Environment Management Officer where he was responsible for dealing with pollution control incidents and environment management inspections of businesses in the Thames Valley.

Brian is now responsible for the development and delivery of thought leadership and strategic policy direction for the Association and implementing substantive change through key stakeholder management at the highest level for British Marine and the UK leisure marine industry as a whole. He is also responsible for developing the research that British Marine produces to support the marine industry.

In his spare time, Brian is a keen DIYer, Spurs fan and supporter of his son’s football teams! You can follow Brian on Twitter here. 

Joanna joined British Marine in 2022 having previously managed a range of strategic programmes for Hampshire County Council and advised its Cabinet on its government relations.  She has always taken a close interest in public affairs having started her career working for Parliamentary Select Committees and over the next three decades worked as a communications and policy adviser for several senior MPs, including Government and Shadow Ministers.

However, Joanna’s passion has always been “on the water” and has a good understanding of its associated industries having grown up in Torbay’s hotel trade, from where she taught people of all ages to sail and secure their RYA qualifications.  A transatlantic sailor, with first-hand experience of the charter sector, Joanna continues to sail whenever she can, primarily racing on international one design Dragon keelboats.  

At British Marine, Joanna is focussed on supporting members by working its Head of Public Affairs to ensure the voice of the leisure marine industry is heard in Westminster and Whitehall and that British Marine continues to build positive engagement with key influencers and national decision-makers.

Read Joanna's full story here

Adrien joined British Marine in 2019. Prior to this, he enjoyed working for a number of established marine brands including MDL Marinas, Gill and Oceanair (now Dometic). 

At British Marine, Adrien is responsible for the Association’s marketing communications. This includes all member and stakeholder communications and the promotion of prestigious events such as Southampton International Boat Show, London Luxury Afloat and the British Marine National Conference.

A keen leisure marine enthusiast, in his spare time Adrien enjoys spending time out on the water with his family and friends.

Emma joined British Marine in 2022.  Previously, she has worked in a number of communications roles, including at Lloyds Bank, Liverpool Victoria, Denplan and prior to joining British Marine she worked at the Royal Yachting Association for over 15 years.  Alongside her communications career Emma has also enjoyed time as a landlady, air hostess and whiskey rep!

At British Marine, Emma is responsible for all B2B and B2C communications including the Southampton International Boat Show, London Luxury Afloat and the BM national conference, the BM Magazine and our fortnightly e-newsletter, MarineTalk.

In her spare time Emma is a keen yacht sailor and has competed in both the Fastnet and Round the Island race. However, her great love is her cocker spaniel and can be found most days wandering the local beaches and around the New Forest with her pup.

Oliver joined British Marine in 2023. Previously, he worked for a Digital Marketing Agency heading up the Creative Department. Prior to agency life, he was Marketing Manager and Creative at Discovery Yachts.

At British Marine, Oliver is responsible for all B2B Marketing which includes print and digital channels, website, events and all B2B communications.

In his spare time, Oliver enjoys spending quality time with his wife and children, playing tennis, walking and partaking or photographing motorsport. Oliver is also a freelance photographer and designer specialising in marine, automotive and property.

Read the full story

Luke is responsible for driving the marketing campaigns for British Marine’s consumer events such as London Luxury Afloat and the Southampton International Boat Show. This includes creating, booking and tracking advertisements in print, digital, tv, radio and out of home, in addition to exploring marketing partnership opportunities with other businesses.

His background is in marketing, working for a large technology company in Germany, and a number of small, creative agencies in the UK to create a range of marketing materials, both B2B and B2C.

Outside of work, Luke is a big animal lover and enjoys being out in nature to spend time with them. Aside from animals, Luke also enjoys seeing live music and is known to be partial to the occasional skydive!

Chloe joined British Marine in 2023 as Marketing Coordinator. Prior to joining, Chloe was the Digital Marketing Officer at a popular health brand, encouraging children and families to create healthier lifestyles. Recently, she also graduated from Falmouth University where she studied Fashion Marketing.

As Marketing Coordinator at British Marine, Chloe is responsible for providing Marketing support for the whole team and more recently, she has started to manage our National Conference 2024.

In her spare time, she loves keeping fit and taking on new challenges for charity. She has raised over £3500 by cycling 300 miles for Cancer Research UK and swimming over 15K for Bone Cancer Research Trust. Chloe also enjoys spending time with her family, friends and her two Cockapoos.

Loretta joined British Marine in 2007 as a Sales Planner in the events team and over the years her role has evolved to become the Head of Sales within our Commercial Team.

Throughout this time Loretta has worked organising both the London Boat Show until 2018 and the Southampton International Boat Show, which she still thoroughly enjoys being part of today. Constantly looking to improve sales process’ Loretta now heads up the Commercial team who manage all our event sales and British Marine New Member acquisition.

She loves working with people, building relationships and improving service wherever possible. Outside of work, Loretta has two young children and spends a lot of time taxiing them to their hobbies! She loves to travel, unwind by the pool and maybe have a glass of wine (or two).

Erica joined British Marine in 2019. Previously she owned her own business called Life Charms, a gifting jewellery company which was sold in gift shops and garden centres in the UK, through trade shows, e-commence and sales agents. She also attended trade shows and met her customers face-to-face to sell her products.

At British Marine, Erica works in the Sales Account team to sell space and manage the administration for Southampton International Boat Show, and all other events including our British Marine National Conference. 

In her spare time, Erica enjoys DIY, circuit training and is an Advanced Scuba Diver. She tries to dive whenever she goes on holiday.  

Nicolene previously worked in the marine industry at Kelvin Hughes for 7 years and exhibited with them at many boat shows, she then joined a corporate company for a few years and realised how much she missed the marine industry so she is glad to be back doing something she's passionate about.

At British Marine Nicolene works in the Sales Account team supporting the team with administrative duties for The Southampton International Boat Show.

Nicolene loves spending time with her family, cooking and baking and in her spare time she teaches her children to bake too. She is passionate about charity work and has entered many race for life’s in Southampton and even wore her wedding dress to work once before to raise money for charity!

Carrie fell into the marine industry when she joined British Marine in the summer of 2022 on a short-term contract, and loved it that much, she decided to stay when she was offered a permanent position.

Carrie is responsible for sponsorship negotiations, relationship management and the key contact for all sponsor deliverables. Her role is varied, and she enjoys working with many people across our organisation as a result.

The other element of her role is project management, she currently project manages the Southampton International Boat Show and the British Marine National Conference, which gives great insight into all the incredible work the British Marine team do for our members.

On a personal note, Carrie lives on the South Coast in Warsash, with her husband Gray and their two dogs, Barney, and Doris (and her youngest daughter who just won’t move out!)

Carrie is a true Dolly Parton fan and loves being near or on the water and have been known to take a kayak out on a warm summers’ day!

At British Marine Kimberley works as the Event Production Manager in the Operations team producing the Southampton International Boat Show.

In her spare time Kimberley spends time with her friends and flying to see her family abroad.

Read Kimberley's full story here

Prior to working for British Marine, William was a freelancer whilst studying and completing his course in event management at Solent University. After completing his university studies, William went on to pursue his passion for event management by taking a course in the field. Experienced in various sectors and contributed to many projects such as, Seaside In the Square, Elrow Horroween, Southampton Marathon, Winchester Marathon, Labyrinth, Mela Festival, Venturefest and pedestrianisation of Bedford Place. 

He then joined British Marine in May 2022 as the operations executive assisting with the organisation of Southampton International Boat, National Conference, London Luxury Afloat and some International Events.

Events extends beyond his professional career as in his spare time, William enjoys attending social events with friends, cooking, reading books and travelling to different countries.

Ella joined British Marine in 2023 as an Events Assistant after recently graduating with a Geography degree. Previously she worked at Marwell Zoo, supporting a variety of events including BRICKOSAURS! Evolution and Glow Marwell.

At British Marine, Ella works on multiple international events including the Monaco Yacht Show, METSTRADE and boot Düsseldorf. She also supports the delivery of ticketing campaigns across the entire British Marine Events Portfolio.

In her spare time, Ella enjoys supporting Charity Fun Days at Marwell and catching up with some old friends (especially the giraffes). She also loves spending time with her friends, baking and travelling.

Earle joined British Marine at the beginning of 2020.  His previous career started in corporate finance working for the Danish Group ISS before moving into the Oil and Gas sector.  From there he successfully transitioned into the SME space with the marine engineering firm Burgess Marine where he oversaw high profile projects including two significant superyacht refits.

Earle is an executive main board member for British Marine and is responsible for the groups Finance, IT and Property departments and works closely with the Finance Audit and Risk committee.  He is a qualified accountant and holds an MBA in Strategic Leadership from Portsmouth University.

Outside of work, Earle is a keen tennis player and whilst living on the Isle of Wight enjoys being on, in or under the water at every opportunity.

Coming Soon

Nicki joined British Marine in 2022.  Prior to this, Nicki worked for many years in legal cashiering and was also part of a purchase ledger team for a national housing association.

Nicki is responsible for the processing of supplier invoices, credit control and direct debits.

In her spare time, Nicki enjoys spending time with her husband and children, attending live music events and travelling abroad.

Callum joined British Marine as an Accounts Assistant in 2021 having previously worked in finance for a few companies whilst studying for his AAT. He has since progressed into the Junior Management Accountant role whilst undertaking the ACCA qualification to become an accountant.

Currently he is responsible for producing the monthly management accounts for the company and the other month end tasks involved in this. This mean communicating with the various different areas of the organisation.

Outside of work & studying, he enjoys spending time with friends and family and is a big football fan and supporter of Manchester United.