Board
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Paul Massey
Non-Executive Director
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Jason Belcher
Director & Co-founder
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Andy Bell
Director & Co-founder
Paul Massey
Non-Executive Director
Paul’s role is to guide Vanilla in creating rapid, but low-risk growth and long-term success. He is a pragmatic leader with a legacy of building thriving organisations on foundations of enjoyment and sustainability and believes that durable success begins with strong, motivated employees. Paul brings a rich experience in people development, believing that strong and enthusiastic talent loyal to the company will always benefit a business through both growth and challenge.
He is also thoroughly seasoned in the ERP and business systems world, having spent the last twenty or more years showing how these tools can quickly optimise the potential and value of hundreds of organisations across a wide spread of different industries.
News Articles
Jason Belcher
Director & Co-founder
Jason founded Vanilla with Andy in 2009 after working on both the consultancy and industry sides of the fence. His vision for Vanilla was to provide a no-nonsense, cost-effective service to users of IFS Applications and to make sure his customers get the best value from their investment.
His role now is making sure that the company grows but maintains the core principles it was founded on. He is determined that we continue to treat our customers as we did our first – like they are our only one.
News Articles
Capital Orchestra Announcement
Bring Your Children to Work Day
Whitworths Upgrade to Qlik Sense
Dynamics 365 Business Central Partnership
Andy Bell
Director & Co-founder
Andy started Vanilla, along with Jason in 2009. Despite being something of an ERP ‘geek’ he is passionate about not complicating things and delivering what the client needs. Andy likes to split his time between working with his customers on projects, running the business and supporting the Sales and Marketing functions with new business development and the occasional editorial piece.
News Articles
Bring Your Children to Work Day
Dynamics 365 Business Central Partnership
Management Team
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Frazer Doe
Head of Sales
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Mike Hollifield
Head of Technology
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Simon Ball
Head of Operations
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Paul Darwin
Head of Consulting
Frazer Doe
Head of Sales
Frazer joined Vanilla in 2019 to fulfil a new role as Head of Sales. Prior to Vanilla Frazer has spent 15 years working in the IT Services and software industry, the past 6 years of which have been working exclusively with IFS ERP.
Blog Posts
News Articles
Mike Hollifield
Head of Technology
Mike is an innovative technical consultant, coming from a dedicated industry background he joined the Vanilla consulting team in 2017. Mike has advanced technical ability and fantastic communication skills, allowing him to express his ideas and opinions in a clear and constructive manner to both technical and non- technical members of the businesses we work with.
In 2018 Mike was promoted to Head of Technology, taking responsibility for the development team in Vanilla as well as leading our R&D activities into new technologies.
Blog Posts
The Vanilla Archiving Approach
The Benefit of Scheduling Your Archiving
What is Data Archiving for IFS Applications™?
News Articles
Oxford Biomedica – Vanilla MTD for IFS Case Study
Simon Ball
Head of Operations
Simon has been working with IFS Applications since 1997, during which time he has established a strong service delivery track-record, with an emphasis on project and programme management.
As part of IFS’s consulting organisation for seventeen years, Simon experienced all aspects of project delivery and IFS implementation work; during the final eight years of that time, Simon was responsible for the consulting and support functions within the UK and Europe West as Consulting Services Director.
Having spent four years previously with Vanilla Solutions as Non-Executive Director, Simon returned to the business as Head of Operations, responsible for the Delivery and Support functions. Simon’s real value for customers comes from his ability to provide leadership to those embarking on business implementation projects, his approach being to establish an appropriate and workable structure, whilst ensuring that plans and objectives are clearly communicated and simply measured, with a strong focus on risk assessment.
News Articles
Paul Darwin
Head of Consulting
Paul is an energetic Supply Chain professional with experience working across different industry sectors including Consumer Electronics, Automotive, Distributed Power and Yellow Goods. He has significant Supply Chain and ERP experience, having worked as a Sales and Operations Planning manager including the responsibility for Supply Chain and Operational elements in a full ERP system implementation.
In 2018, Paul was promoted to Head of Consulting, taking charge of all the consulting staff within Vanilla. He’s able to build relationships at all levels within an organisation and ensure our consulting team is working to the high standards we set.
News Articles
Fujichem Continuous Improvement
Charity Challenge 2018 – Yorkshire 3 Peaks Completed
Consulting Team (USA)
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Ryan Sharp
Director - Vanilla,Inc
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Megan Coe
Business Analyst
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Dawn Wallace
Business Analyst
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Joel Francis
IFS Sales Consultant
Ryan Sharp
Director - Vanilla,Inc
Ryan has over 10 years’ experience in operations and supply chain management in the high-tech industry sector. He has more than 20 years’ experience as a business analyst and managing projects and is knowledgeable in implementing ERP software solutions including Oracle E-Business Suite and IFS Applications. Additionally, Ryan has experience in running software implementation groups as a Senior.
Megan Coe
Business Analyst
Prior to joining Vanilla, Megan worked for Starbucks as a Business Analyst/Scrum Master, where she led an ERP implementation through 3 of 4 phases. This experience reignited her passion and enthusiasm of working in an end-to-end process environment and the ability to perform deep dive financial analysis. Currently, she is working towards her IFS Practitioner Certification in Financials.
Dawn Wallace
Business Analyst
Working on IFS implementations, Dawn found that learning and teaching IFS is what she was passionate about. The change in career has allowed her to work with clients to help bridge the gap between IFS and their functional needs. Dawn has 30 years’ experience in manufacturing and materials management in the following environments: Aerospace & Defence, Pharmaceuticals, and the food industry.
Joel Francis
IFS Sales Consultant
Prior to joining Vanilla in 2020, Joel has been working within the IFS ecosystem for the past 7+ years, spanning his experience from placing consultants in projects to assisting businesses around the globe in every step of their ERP product lifecycle, including implementations, upgrades, rollouts and support.
Consulting Team (UK)
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George Armstrong
Graduate Consultant
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Lewis Moore
Graduate Consultant
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Nicola Burling
Consultant
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Karol Pietrzak
Consultant
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Kelvin Robinson
Consultant
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Kelly Breakwell
Consultant
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Tim Boulton
Senior Consultant
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Chris Wharton
Senior Consultant
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Maria Nikolaidou
Senior Consultant
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Janine Procter
Senior Consultant
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Andrew Wormald
Lead Consultant
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Piotr Swierszcz
Lead Consultant
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Tim Hughes
Group Lead - Projects & Maintenance
George Armstrong
Graduate Consultant
George is a recent business graduate that is developing his skills in the IFS industry, allowing him to become an effective and established IFS Consultant in the future.
News Articles
Lewis Moore
Graduate Consultant
Lewis is a recent graduate consultant who is currently developing his skills in IFS to be an integral member of the consulting team.
News Articles
Nicola Burling
Consultant
Nicola joined Vanilla after working on IFS implementations with both Borr Drilling and Songa Offshore.
Confident in leading workshops, documenting customer processes and gathering requirements, Nicola has over 20 years experience with Service and Maintenance solutions.
Karol Pietrzak
Consultant
Karol joined us from AMAG Technology where he was database analyst. After initially joining our support team as support analyst, Karol has recently been promoted to Consultant specialising on Finance
Kelvin Robinson
Consultant
Kelvin previously worked in the Automotive Industry for 10 years in a Customer Service and Sales Capacity dealing with global leaders in the OEM Off and On-Road industry.
He has gained a wealth of knowledge of IFS Applications 7.5 and the Sales and Marketing (CRM) module during his career. End-User Training and Functional ERP delivery are one of his key areas, coupled with excellent Customer Service skills allow him to build strong relationships at all levels.
Kelly Breakwell
Consultant
Kelly joined Vanilla in 2019 after spending 5 years in the Scientific Research and Development Industry. She is a passionate and enthusiastic Consultant with experience of Implementations, End-User Training and Functional ERP knowledge in the following sectors; Pharmaceuticals, R&D, Food Industry, Aerospace and Engineering, Plastic Extrusion and Furniture Manufacturing. She is enjoying the change in career as this allows her to be involved in the process mapping, continuous improvement, and interactions with people entwined with business change.
Tim Boulton
Senior Consultant
An enthusiastic consultant with a broad range of functional knowledge and a solid background in managing IFS full implementation and enhancement projects. Tim has 7 years’ experience managing complex ERP projects; overseeing requirement capture, solution design, testing and business change. Confident in analysing the needs of a business and understanding quickly how they operate, Tim can recommend solutions and improvements at all levels of an organisation.
Chris Wharton
Senior Consultant
Chris joined Vanilla in 2017 as a business consultant after spending 10 years in the manufacturing industry as an application analyst. He is enjoying the change in career direction which allows him to interact with clients, understand their issues and play a part in resolving them.
News Articles
Maria Nikolaidou
Senior Consultant
With more than 13 years of international experience working within the manufacturing industry and 12 years of IFS Applications experience, Maria boasts a varied technical and manufacturing background. An IFS Applications specialist who’s capable of handling complex assignments effectively whilst possessing the confidence to work independently or as part of a large team. Maria has worked and lived across the globe and speaks five different languages.
News Articles
Janine Procter
Senior Consultant
Janine joined the Vanilla team in 2013 as a Senior Consultant with over ten years’ experience working with IFS Applications. She has previous experience working in Export Logistics for an industrial and medical equipment supplier.
News Articles
Andrew Wormald
Lead Consultant
Andy joined Vanilla from Pukka Pies, where he was Business Systems and Process Manager.
An experienced IT professional, Andy is experienced with managing IT projects. With strong functional and technical skills, he combines his experience of day to day operations with his IFS knowledge around supply chain planning, manufacturing, operational performance recording and monitoring and business analysis.
He is looking forward to the opportunity to interact with Vanilla’s client base to work cooperatively to improve business effectiveness
Piotr Swierszcz
Lead Consultant
Piotr is a dedicated professional with a wide range of experience in systems implementation and business improvement. He adopts a people focussed approach to project engagements to ensure that solutions and improvements deliver sustainable business change. Piotr’s key strength is in developing operational and strategic finance solutions using IFS Applications. Piotr has 24 years’ experience, analysing, designing, configuring and project managing business systems.
Tim Hughes
Group Lead - Projects & Maintenance
Tim has 18 years’ experience of requirement capture, solutions design and implementation in a range of businesses. Very confident at leading workshops, analysing processes and recommending improvements. Tim quickly understands different business solutions and is comfortable building relationships across all levels of an organisation.
News Articles
Delivery
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Karen Ablethorpe
Project Administrator
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Olivia Davies
Project Administrator
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David Robb
Project Manager
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Kieran Garry
Project Manager
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Paul O’Brien
Project Manager
Karen Ablethorpe
Project Administrator
Prior to joining Vanilla, Karen worked in the banking Industry where she spent 20 years in project management roles. Karen primarily worked on company mergers and migration programmes, looking after corporate, commercial, and offshore business units and their customers. In one of her most recent roles, Karen looked after a small change on various wealth management systems.
Olivia Davies
Project Administrator
Olivia joined Vanilla in 2018 as a Support Analyst. She also manages some small to medium-sized projects. She has previous experience of being an IFS customer & managing a busy IT department with a support desk so knows what customers expect.
News Articles
David Robb
Project Manager
David’s previous experience was predominantly within the retail industry, where for the past 6 years he worked as a Project Manager on a large business transformation programme. During this time David was accountable for a range of strategic IT and business change projects, with notable projects including the implementation of a new HR system, implementing new cloud based learning and recruitment systems and subsequently rolling these out to 20,000 users and harmonising delivery schedules throughout the retail and supply chain side of the business.
David is looking forward to taking on a customer facing project management role, utilising his varied skill set in order to help Vanilla and its customers to deliver successful and value-added projects.
Kieran Garry
Project Manager
Kieran joined the Vanilla team in 2014 and in 2017 was promoted to Project Manager within the delivery term. His role is to work closely with the customer and internal teams to manage projects through to successful completion.
News Articles
Paul O’Brien
Project Manager
Paul has previously worked in Offshore Oil & Gas for the past 10 years managing global projects in both ERP and IT deployments. His experience includes preparing businesses from a strategic readiness and target operating model, both before and during ERP projects. He has the ability to utilize different project methods as appropriate, while ensuring that budgets and timelines stay in focus, change management capabilities and delivery of information to C-Suite/BoD.
Support
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Gary Warner
Technical Support Analyst
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Rachel Clifford
Support Analyst
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Rachael Hinckley
Support Analyst
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Claire Valentine
Senior Support Analyst
Gary Warner
Technical Support Analyst
Gary joined Vanilla in 2018 as a Developer. Gary has come from an IFS technical background where he supported a global IFS implementation. Gary likes to resolve problem issues and is keen to learn new skills along the way
Rachel Clifford
Support Analyst
Rachel joined the Support Team at Vanilla in 2020, coming from one of our old customers Thompson and Morgan. There she worked with IFS Applications for several years, particularly focusing on Finance and Manufacturing.
News Articles
Rachael Hinckley
Support Analyst
Rachael has been with Vanilla since October 2018 and arrived with 15 years of experience in Supply Chain/Logistics and 6 years of IFS experience. As part of the support team, Rachael thrives on investigating issues and solving customer problems
Claire Valentine
Senior Support Analyst
Claire joined Vanilla’s Support Team in 2017 and as a Senior Support Analyst, enjoys solving the more complex issues that are presented to our support. She has previous experience in the Oil & Gas, Food Packaging and Pharmaceutical industries.
Claire also found and set up our Newcastle office.
News Articles
Technology
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Ian Hannaford
Graduate Developer
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Boluwarin Adedoyin
Graduate Developer
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Brandon Ellis-Cairns
Developer
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Chris Elliston
Senior Developer
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Andrew Nicholls
Developer
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Paul Trownson
Senior Developer
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Neil Carter
Senior Developer
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Steve Bagwell
Technical Consultant
Ian Hannaford
Graduate Developer
Ian graduated in 2019 form De Montfort University with a degree in Cyber Security and has joined us as a graduate developer. He looks forward to learning new skills and developing his understanding of IFS Applications.
News Articles
Boluwarin Adedoyin
Graduate Developer
Bolu graduated in 2018 from the University of Abertay, Dundee with a degree in Computing and has joined us as a graduate developer. He has a keen interest in knowing how things work and can usually be found learning about new technology be it software or gadgets
News Articles
Brandon Ellis-Cairns
Developer
Brandon joined Vanilla in 2014 as a Trainee Consultant and is now a fully-fledged Developer. He has a strong background in technology and wrote Vanilla’s Making Tax Digital software. Away from the Office Brandon has a keen interest in motorsport, gaming and snowboarding.
In 2019, he won the Hull and Humber Young Person in Tech Award.
Blog Posts
News Articles
Chris Elliston
Senior Developer
Chris joined the technology team as a Developer in July 2019, coming from one of our old customers Thompson & Morgan, who have recently chosen to move away from IFS. He has been working with IFS since 2012 and brings a wealth of experience with him.
Andrew Nicholls
Developer
Andrew is a dedicated professional with a wide range of experience in the technical side of IFS ranging from Data Migrations to PL/SQL. Working within a team, Andrew has excellent communication skills at all levels, using his initiative. His role includes using third party products, NovaCura Flow allowing customers to have a more productive ERP system. Andrew has over 5 years’ technical experience configuring business systems and process improvements.
News Articles
Paul Trownson
Senior Developer
Paul joined the Vanilla team in 2013 and has a background in computing. He works across many of our clients as part of the delivery team and is heavily involved in SQL reporting and producing training documentation.
News Articles
Neil Carter
Senior Developer
Neil joined Vanilla in 2017. He has a broad IFS application knowledge gained in the Manufacturing and Construction sectors in techno-functional roles. His Project Management background allows him to quickly understand customer requirements and interpret these to deliver user-focused technical solutions. He has strong attention to detail and possesses the ability to learn new skills quickly.
Steve Bagwell
Technical Consultant
Steve joined Vanilla in October 2019 as a Technical Consultant. He has a proven record of delivering practical business value and competitive advantage from business systems in manufacturing environments. His executive level, business leadership experience, coupled with a hands-on approach drives the transformation of business processes, data capture and delivery of business intelligence. He is a strong advocate of Lean Manufacturing principles and has the vision to surface the true value that IFS can offer to help businesses achieve world-class standards.
Business Development
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Philip Haddon
Account Manager
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Ian Ryan
Marketing Manager
Philip Haddon
Account Manager
Philip joined Vanilla in September 2020 to fulfil a new role as Account Manager for our installed base customers. Prior to joining Vanilla, he has spent over 19 years at IFS UK working in various positions, most recently as a Senior Account Manager. Philip has previous experience in a number of other roles including logistics director, IT manager and as a consultant, selecting and implementing ERP solutions.
Ian Ryan
Marketing Manager
Ian is a former journalist and copywriter for several regional weekly and daily newspaper publications and made the switch to marketing 7 years prior to joining Vanilla. He has built up his marketing knowledge with positions in both the property and education industries and in his most recent role, specialised in Pay Per Click, SEO and international campaigns for an education software company.
HR & Accounts
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Kirstyn Brown
HR & Recruitment Manager
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Sarah Bartram-Royston
Accounts Manager
Kirstyn Brown
HR & Recruitment Manager
Previously worked within the hospitality industry as an Events and Revenue Manager, then took a career change to become HR and office manager for a small housebuilder which then allowed her to complete a qualification in Human resources in 2019 when she became an associate member of the CIPD.
News Articles
Sarah Bartram-Royston
Accounts Manager
Sarah joined Vanilla in April 2019 as an Accounts Administrator and has recently been promoted to Accounts Manager. She previously worked for a Finance company as an IT Service Desk Coordinator for 20 years and is enjoying her change in career.