Comparison International — Our People
Senior managers from Comparison International have many years of experience in working with and for business support agencies, universities and other change agencies and their clients in the UK and overseas; and a depth of knowledge about organisational improvement and Best Practice Benchmarking which provides very solid foundations for CIL's work, and is enhanced by the support of our Advisory Board and Research Faculty
Gerry Oates
Gerry
has been the Sales and Marketing Director for Comparison International
Ltd. since its incorporation in July 2000. He has been involved in Best
Practice Benchmarking with the PROBE suite of tools since 1997, helping
to establish the tools in the UK and internationally. Gerry's early career
was spent as a Research and Development technician at GEC in Manchester
before moving into sales and marketing in 1979. After 12 years of holding
Senior Sales positions including within two international renowned companies,
Rank Xerox and Mars GB, Gerry set up his own Drinks Vending business in
1991 and a training and consultancy company to assist new businesses in
1995.
Jeff Taylor
Jeff
has been a Director of Comparison International Ltd since its incorporation
in July 2000. He has been involved with Best Practice Benchmarking since
1996 and has been a member of the design team involved in the development
of many of the benchmarking tools available through CIL. Jeff's career
began within the British Civil Service as a Project Development Manager
supporting new business development in London. He was also responsible
for securing European funds for public sector bodies supporting business
development strategies in West London.
David Yarrow
Dave
is Comparison International's Development Manager, and also a
member of CIL's Research Faculty.
He is an experienced organisational improvement specialist with a successful
20-year track record in teaching, research, supervision, publication, consultancy
and training. Prior to joining CIL, Dave's career has included Production
Engineering roles with NEI Parsons (heavy engineering); management consultancy
with Price Waterhouse; teaching, research and management roles with Northumbria
University's Business School; and two years as an Assistant Director
of the NHS Learning Alliance, a team of change facilitators supporting efforts
to improve the UK's healthcare services. In recent years, he has completed
a doctorate in Organisational Improvement, and developed a specialism in
change management and the spread of good/better/best practices. He is an
experienced PROBE facilitator and trains and accredits new facilitators,
and is also a licensed EFQM Excellence Model Assessor and a licensed facilitator
of the innovative Tipping
Point workshop.
He has served three times as an assessor on regional excellence awards, most
recently for North of England Excellence in 2007, and is a steering group
member for the North East Quality Group. Dave has been a key player in the
development of the PROBE suite of Best Practice Benchmarking tools since
1996, and now focuses on development of CIL's range of products and
services and of CIL as an organisation.
Graham Pike
Graham has been involved in Best Practice Benchmarking since 1993, at first with IBM Industrial Consultancy, for more than ten years as a facilitator for the Confederation of British Industry and since 2000 for Comparison International Limited. Graham served an engineering apprenticeship and spent his early career in the aircraft industry. This was followed by fifteen years of manufacturing management experience in the fork lift truck and diesel engine businesses. He then joined IBM, initially involved in industrial products marketing and later the Industrial Consultancy. He holds a Masters Degree in Production Technology, is a Chartered Engineer and a Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology. Graham is CIL's Senior PROBE Facilitator and trainer and accreditor of new facilitators.
Neil Cambridge
Neil is a facilitator, mentor, business advisor with over 30 years' experience.
He has worked on a broad range of endeavours for a variety of organisational
structures from entrepreneurs to the U.S. Department of Defence to non-profit
to community. Raised in England he emigrated to America in 1978, working
for the British Consulate in New York. His business experience stems from
a diverse employment and consulting history that exposed him to almost every
working function within an organisation. Sensing a critical shift and understanding
the potential impact of micro-computing he entered the technology field and
its fledgling PC industry in 1983. Neil translated his professional skills
into a competency for integrating business and technology systems. The difficulty
of implementing technology projects led him to co-found Advanced Management
Catalyst, inc. AMci focused on delivering methodologies for radically improving
individual/group decision making and accomplishment for individuals, teams
and management groups. Experience here led him to some of the most complex
organisational problems including base closure communities, re-engineering
the US Dept of Defence logistics and acquisition process, crisis mergers,
US Dept of Energy nuclear waste management and countless commercial engagements
across the country. He is currently Managing Director of Comparison North
America (CNA), the North American 'arm' of Comparison International. He serves
on the board of Maine Youth Leadership and assists producing its seminars.
Neil works extensively with teenagers on the tools and thinking of leadership,
volunteerism and character.
Michael Jones
Michael joined Comparison International in April 2008 after spending 10 years as part of the Business Link network of business support organ-isations. During this part of his career he was employed initially as a business adviser, specialising in the use and design of diagnostic & analytical tools, before progressing to become a member of the Senior Management Team for Business Link County Durham. During this time Michael was responsible for strategic development and business planning for the organisation, and latterly, for all project management activity. He worked as an associate with both Northumbria University’s Business School and Comparison International for a number of years, and was instrumental in the development of PROBE for Micro Business. Prior to starting with Business Link, Michael ran a number of successful small businesses, mainly in the retail environment. His commitment to gaining an in-depth understanding of the needs of businesses – and those that manage them – was developed during this period, and this commitment has been a key driver in all his subsequent roles. In addition to working extensively with a wide variety of diagnostic benchmarking tools, Michael is an experienced EFQM Excellence Model Assessor, and is also a qualified internal auditor. He is a business graduate, and also possesses professional qualifications in training and development and (IT) network administration.
A network of professionals
Comparison maintains and continues to grow an extensive network of professionals. We continue to grow a highly skilled group of professional facilitators who in addition to their specialities maintain accreditation in one or more PROBE Best Practice Benchmarking tools. In depth experience can be drawn on for:
- Manufacturing
- Service
- Organisational Development
- Micro Business
- Public Service
- Agriculture and Agri-Food
- Sustainable Business
Contact Comparison International for more information about our company, products and services.