East Midlands-based business consultancy TBAT Innovation has appointed Dr Fiona Reed, Dr Donald Mclellan and Sam Hoare to the consultancy team. This brings the number of staff based at the Lockington Hall offices near Derby to 14, and significantly strengthens the expertise, especially in the engineering, aerospace and automotive fields.
(L-R) Donald Mclellan, Fiona Reed, Sam Hoare and Matt Symonds
TBAT Innovation is now one of the UK’s leading business consultancies in its field. Established in 2002, the company provides innovation support for technology research and development organisations throughout the country by accessing grant funding, R&D tax credits, conducting market research and evaluating innovation opportunities. TBAT has consistently achieved a grant application success rate of above 80% per annum and seen a 20% growth in company turnover in the last year.
With her background in electronics and electrical engineering, Fiona Reed moves to TBAT from the Netherlands where she spent the last seven years as a technical writer for ASML, the leading supplier of lithography equipment for the semiconductor industry. She completed her PhD in technology management with Loughborough University and will use this research and development experience to accelerate highly-technical client proposals through funding to launch.
Commenting on her appointment, Fiona says: “After returning to the UK I was looking for a role that would enable me to use my experience as a researcher and writer, and to acquire new skills. This position will allow me to contribute to our clients’ successes in a very tangible way.”
Dr Donald Mclellan is an economist and handles funding applications for TBAT clients across all sectors. Previously with BAE Systems, Jaguar Landrover and Strathclyde University, Donald already has experience of working within smaller consultancies and will eventually seek to specialise in the aerospace and automotive sectors.
“I was attracted by the variety of work TBAT handles in such a focused business consultancy. I am helping clients to apply for the government-funded Smart Grants as well as looking into research and development Tax Credits; these can really move a commercial project forward.”
Business development consultant Sam Hoare has a background in Banking and Financial services with Lloyds Bank and Countrywide Financial Services. She brings expertise in business strategy, development, finance and funding.
“As a consultant for TBAT I have the freedom to work with a variety of clients at different stages in their business journey. I’m bringing greater commercial awareness to the technical excellence of the TBAT services.”
Matt Symonds, TBAT director comments: “Fiona, Donald and Sam have joined the TBAT organisation at a time of rapid growth; their expertise allows us to help clients across a number of strategic business sectors for the UK economy and I like to think that we are contributing in a small but significant way to the recovery.”
To find out if your project is eligible for grant funding, contact Matt Symonds at TBAT on 01509 670610 or matts@tbat.co.uk
