James Burton
Founder & CEO
As a highly experienced and successful sales professional with a passion for sales lead generation and business development, James decided to make the leap to set up his own company. With the skills and drive to succeed, Qualfia was born in March 2009. As well as being very ‘hands-on’ with the lead generation for our clients, James ensures Qualifa’s growth and development continues to soar and is in constant contact with our current clients, to maintain and grow the relationships. On top of this, maintaining a tight ship and mentoring his ‘Qualifites’ makes him an extremely busy bee.
Life Before Qualifa
After graduating from the University of Brighton with a BA Hons in Business Studies James spent the next 9 years in sales roles in the telecommunications industry, working up from Sales Executive to Channel Sales Manager. James then progressed to Sales Director at Madgex and entered the world of Digital Media. This is where his brain started ticking over time – Brighton, a hub of Digital Media companies….. gap in the Brighton market for a lead generation company of the internet age……Bingo. Qualifa was born.
James likes
Rowing (on a machine!)….. Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club…….
An Interesting fact
James has completed 5, yes 5, marathons. That’s 3 in London and 2 in New York.
Fiona Pritchard
Marketing & Research Manager
Fiona loves nothing more than organising, coordinating and putting processes in place. Her past experiences have developed these skills and helped to expand her career into Marketing Coordination and Product Management. At Qualifa, she is responsible for developing and managing the Qualifa online marketing strategy. As research being an integral part of Qualifa, Fiona also manages this function by developing and maintaining a central Qualifa companies database.
Life Before Qualifa
Fiona graduated from Southampton Institute of Higher Education with an HND in Design Communication, specialising in Business Marketing. With a passion for travel, she pursued a career at British Airways Holidays, working her way from Customer Care to Product Management, hand picking hotels, pricing and copy writing for holiday brochures and online selling. After 10 years in the travel industry and wanting a ‘change’ from travelling (why oh why!), Fiona moved on to continue to develop her skills as Marketing & Operations Coordinator for an e-learning company, before joining Qualifa in April 2010.
Fiona likes
Travel…..Cheese & Wine…..British Military Fitness…..Interior Design….Trashy TV and books……
An Interesting fact
Fiona is a qualified Sports Massage Therapist and gets very excited about discussing ones sporting injuries.
James Lewendon
Sales Manager
James is a ‘super star’ Sales Manager who gives dedication and determination day in day out. As well as providing sales lead generation for some of Qualifa’s key clients, James is also responsible for the business development of Qualifa, helping James B to grow the company.
Life Before Qualifa
James has spent the last 7 years in sales roles, developing his skills across a number of industries. Two of these industries are pretty tough – car sales and recruitment. So with a background like this, it is no wonder that he is a ‘super star’ Sales Manager. Having said that, he does say he is rather enjoying the slightly less frazzled atmoshpere that is ‘Qualia’ and sales lead generation.
James likes
Gym …….Gardening…….Italian Horror Films…..Documentaries on the Universe & Evolution………..Real Ales……Long distance cycling…..
An Interesting fact
James has a passion for fruit and veg and is currently cultivating his allotment on the rooftop of his ‘Eco friendly’ apartment block.
Felix Therrien
Account Manager
Felix is fresh out of University, starting with Qualifa whilst finishing off his studies. He was very keen to get started in the ‘real world’ and is passionate about his accounts – his particular interest is in all things SEO and Social Media. He has a bit of a skill in using stats in everything from written to verbal communications which can be very beneficial in closing statements.
Life Before Qualifa
Felix graduated from the University of Sussex with a BSC in Business and Economics. Before his studies, he spent an internship at KPMG, a leading provider of professional services. It was here, whist having his first real experience of working in a business environment that he made the decision to study and hence, left for University in sunny Brighton.
Felix likes
Strategy & numbers…….Cooking…… Quoting football stats …..Online Games like ’Zombie Cricket’………..
An Interesting fact
Felix once auditioned to be a child presenter next to Terry Wogan on Children In Need
Phoebe Yates
Business Development Executive
Phoebe is Qualifa’s latest recruit, jumping straight in from her second year in Portsmouth University. She will spend a years internship with Qualifa before returning for her final year at University. Phoebe will be managing some of our key accounts, developing her sales and research skills, to become an appointment setting superstar. She is already well on her way!
Life Before Qualifa
Phoebe has completed 2 years of her studies to achieve a BA honours in International Business Studies and is expected to graduate in 2012. As part of her course, she completed a 4 months placement in Caen, France at L’Ecole de Management. Hence, she finds meeting people from different cultures and communicating in different languages very rewarding. She is ‘almost’ fluent in Spanish! Alongside her studies she has had various jobs including voluntary work for a number of years for Help the Aged and also in a couple of years working in a well known fashion store – obviously for the discounts!
Phoebe likes
Fashion & Design …….Music…….going to gigs………Languages…….History of Cigars (?)…….
An Interesting fact
Phoebe gained a Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award which involved a 2 day countryside hike – Yikes!
Darren Blackstock
Director – Qualifa South West
Darren is an experienced new business acquisition sales professional with an excellent track record in the ICT world. In late 2009, Darren made the decision to set up Qualifa South West – focusing on Digital Media and Technology companies in and around the South West. His role is to aid the growth of the business and quickly achieve our aspiration to become the best ‘Pay on Results’ lead generation business in the UK. Darren’s sales experience is crucial to understanding the importance of lead generation and what is needed to identify a real opportunity.
Life Before Qualifa
Darren left college with a HND in Computer Studies and started his working life with a voice and data multiplexing company called Tricom as sales administrator, and quickly learnt a sales career was his calling. After cutting his teeth at Tricom, Darren quickly became a results-oriented business professional now with over 12 years progressive experience in new business acquisition and sales/account management roles with MCI WorldCom, ONI plc and Kerridge/ADP. Darren is married to Claire and has two children (Emily 2 and Harry<1)
Darren likes
Cycling (mountain & road)…… Skiing………Motorsport…….as many visits to North Cornwall as possible.
An Interesting fact
Darren has toured Nambia on a self-guided safari sleeping on the roof of a Land Rover for 3 weeks……He also held the Butlins BMX track record for 3 consecutive years….
