Senior appointments set North East technology firm on track to take on tech giants.
Leading business IT strategists Forfusion have promoted several team members into key roles as they prepare to take on multi-million pound global technology giants.
The Cobalt Business Exchange-based Forfusion, designs, implements and manages mission-critical networking infrastructure for large public and private sector companies.
As independent experts, the business is committed to ensuring businesses’ have the best connection possible for their IT systems. By switching them from say traditional MPLS networks over to SD-WAN technology, a faster and more reliable service improves a company’s site-to-site connectivity and helps them achieve their goals quicker.
After appointing several highly experienced professionals, the firm is poised for an exciting year of growth. Steven Forrest, CEO of Forfusion said, “The business has had some key successes in recent years, and it has been great to bring some influential women into the business. Through the last 12 months we have really invested in our operational structure, and we are in a better position for it.
“We have established key relationships with industry giants to not only raise awareness of the infrastructure solutions available, but to work with businesses to engage their needs and provide the optimum service for their own growth ambitions too.”
As head of finance Jill Taylor manages the business’ financial functions, ensuring all monetary data is accurate, any risks identified, managed and reported on time. Having started her career in finance in Newcastle, Taylor moved to London where she gained extensive experience over 23 years within City institutions, primarily in insurance services and retail.
Katie Griffin has been promoted to business services director, but she hasn’t always worked in the tech sector. With 15 years spent as a primary school teacher through to deputy headteacher in the North East, Griffin found a change of career scene was necessary owing to changes in the education system. An opportunity with Forfusion came back in 2016 and her career has flourished since, as she aided the firm in developing key HR and operational processes to implement best practice.
Joanne Thomas heads up Forfusion’s marketing department. After studying sociology at Leeds University, she worked in operations and account management, where she looked after clients that included Associated Press. Her move into the tech sector came in 2011, when she joined MintTec, a small IT systems integrator in Southampton as a Business Development Manager. When the company was acquired by Forfusion in 2017 this presented her with an opportunity to pursue a career in marketing and has now been working as the firm’s Marketing Manager for several months.
In her role, Joanne coordinates internal and external resource with a key goal to boost company growth by driving brand awareness opportunities and showcasing Forfusion’s services and technology solutions.
Fiona Inglis is well-versed in all things tech, having extensive experience in the sector. She joined Forfusion in 2016 after spending several years working for a national firm in Scotland. As she marks a sixth anniversary with the business, she has recently been promoted to Account Support Manager.
She said: “It’s great to work in the technology sector. I’m not overly technical but I like to learn how things work. I’m happy to have a technical consultant explain to me the benefits of some of the technology we provide for our clients. That’s one of the great things about Forfusion, the technical guys can take this stuff and explain it to you on a human level to help you understand.”