David Sear – Chairman
David is a respected leader within the payments industry. Prior to his current position as Chief Operating Officer of Western Union Business Solutions he was the head of Travelex’s Global Business Payments Division, where he pioneered the development of a new and highly successful payments platform. David’s previous career includes three years as Global Managing Director of Travelex Outsourcing, which became the world leader in pre-paid currency cards under his leadership. David has also held senior positions at WorldPay, where he was Chief Operating Officer, and at Equifax as a Managing Director. In addition to his non-executive role at Semafone, David is Chairman of Bango, an AIM listed company specialising in mobile payments and analytics.
Charles Cooper-Driver - Non-executive Director
Early in his career, Charles held product-marketing positions with CompuServe and Wang Laboratories. He was also a venture manager at Praxis International, a Boston based software firm. From 1992 to 1996, Charles completed the turnaround of a direct marketing production company. As Managing Director, he moved the business from heavy loss into profit, acquired a competitor, and sold the combined business to a larger trade buyer. Charles co-founded Careline Services Limited in late 1996 and since then has developed the company into a highly successful contact centre business. Charles splits his time between client management; new business development and strategy; and people development. Charles has a BSc in Business Administration and Engineering from Boston University and an MBA from the Wharton School.
Mike Havard - Non-executive Director
Mike Havard has been an advisor to many organisations and industry bodies within the customer management arena globally. Besides his role as a Board Director for Semafone, Mike works as a non-exec director for several other innovative firms in technology, outsourcing and consultancy, and continues to act as an advisor to major brands, industry and government bodies on their customer management strategies and operations. In 1998 he founded and led CM Insight, a leading advisory and analytics firm, working with many of the world's champion brands on transforming their customer management capability. This business was acquired by Verint Systems in 2006 and Mike completed his tenure there in 2008. Prior to founding CM Insight, Mike worked in senior roles in BT and The Decisions Group, as well as being a Director for Sitel Corp. in Europe. He sits on the Standards Council of the CCA and is widely published on issues of customer management.
David Jackson - Founder
Having gained a degree in Management Sciences from Manchester University, David secured a graduate traineeship with Cadbury Schweppes and went on to work in various roles within the food sector. In 1989, he then founded a fresh food manufacturing and distribution business and sold it in 1996. Subsequently, he met Charles Cooper-Driver and, realising an opportunity to create a quality call centre business, they founded Careline Services. Whilst working with Careline David saw the need for enhanced security in the processing of sensitive data in the call centre environment and this lead to the formation of Semafone. As founder of Semafone, David supports the commercial and strategic development of the business.
Robert Scott Moncrieff - Board Observer
Read law at Edinburgh University; spent 10 years in publishing and direct marketing - ran his own DM agency in the '80's later sold to Saatchi & Saatchi in the early 90's. Co-founded co-op marketing firm - RDP - sold to management in 2006. In parallel, he spent 6 years in tech marketing first with Digital Equipment before moving to Olivetti as worldwide head of PC marketing. '98-'07 he was with Sitel Corporation, with worldwide sales and marketing responsibility, doubling revenues to $1.3Bn, with 100+ Fortune 500 client companies. Now a consultant, specialising in BPO Agency Search & Selection, Contact Centre Technologies, Business Development, Change Management and BPO Executive Search.
