New Liverymen and Corporate Liverymen

We’d like to extend a warm welcome to the seven Liverymen and nine Corporate Liverymen that we inducted during our June Court.

Our new Corporate Liverymen are from companies Crofts & Assinder, Gresham Office Furniture and The Senator Group.

Profiles of all our new Liverymen and Corporate Liverymen are below:

Justin Adgar

Justin is the National Operations Manager for B&Q, having worked in installation management since 2000. He was student of the year at Wearside Technical College in 1989, and is a time served carpenter and joiner. Following college he ran his own company, offering home improvement services and installation of units and furniture. Justin joined as a Corporate Liveryman for B&Q in 2012, and has been a big supporter of our Northern Golf event as well as supporting B&Q fundraising events for The Furniture Makers’ Company.

John Irwin

John is the Managing Director at Tangent, an office furniture designer and manufacturer. He studied Production Engineering and Production Management at the University of Nottingham, graduating in 1974, before joining Turner & Newall Plc, a building materials manufacturer, on their Graduate Training Scheme. Before John has worked in a variety of manufacturing areas, including rubber and industrial doors, before joining Tangent in 1994, or Ofquest as it was then, becoming Group Managing Director before joining Bisley in 2006. Last year he moved back to Tangent. John has worked with lots of trade bodies, including being a Past Director of the BCFA, and he is the race director of the Burnham Beeches Half Marathon. He became a Corporate Liveryman with Bisley in 2010.

Jonathan Ledger

Jonathan is the Chief Executive Office of Proskills UK, which looks to improve quality industrial skills development in the both the UK and abroad. Jonathan started out as a Trainer with Swale Training Centre in 1992, eventually moving on to being the Vocational Training Manager for Cemex UK. While at Cemex he received a postgraduate diploma in Management Studies, before moving to Proskills in 2007.

Georgy Metichian

Georgy is an artist carver and cabinet maker based in London, running his own business that specialised in restoration of existing wooden furniture by hand. In 1980 he went to the Tbilisi Art School where he specialised in wood technology, graduating three years later with honours and in 1982 he was awarded a medal in a prestigious competition in Moscow for excellent craftsmanship in wood-carving. Georgy joined the Company last year as a Freeman, and has got involved in the work that we do and becoming a regular at Livery events.

Kevin Morgan

Kevin is the B&Q Homefit National Services Manager, specialising in domestic installation services. He began his career at MFI as an area installation manager before moving to Homebase in 2006. Kevin eventually became the head of Homebase’s home services before moving over to B&Q. Kevin is a Corporate Liveryman for B&Q and has supported our Company and events, along with Billy and Justin, for the past three years.

Andrew Stephenson

Andrew is the HR Director for Lookers Plc, who deal with new motor vehicles. He is be-coming a Liveryman following his year as the Primary Corporate Liverymen for DFS, where he worked as Group HR Director until this spring. Andrew has a Masters in Strategic Human Resource Management from Staffordshire University, and in the past has worked at B&Q, Virgin and Vodafone. In his spare time Andrew is a FA qualified coach, a regional board member of Young Enterprise UK and a Stoke City football fan.

Jamie Ward

Jamie is in charge of the City & Guilds Furniture Making courses at Warwickshire College, running apprenticeships and bespoke courses. His career began as a wood machinist mass producing windows, doors and stairs and progressed to university at Buckingham-shire Chilterns University College. Jamie’s own small business manufactures bespoke furniture and kitchens, which he manages part time alongside his position Warwickshire College, and he also advises Burnley College on their curriculum. Jamie joined The Furniture Makers’ Company at our Common Hall in 2015.

Corporate Liverymen

Kevin Taylor — Prime Liveryman, Crofts & Assinder

Kevin is the Finance Director for Crofts and Assinder, a premier manufacturer of handle and architectural fittings. He has previously worked as a finance director in construction, accountancy and information technology.

William Sinclair — Secondary Liveryman, Crofts & Assinder

William is the Head of Sales for Crofts & Assinder.

Julian Roebuck — Prime Liveryman, Gresham Office Furniture.

Julian is the Managing Director of Gresham Office Furniture, a large independent designer and manufacturer of workspace furniture in the UK. He studied Civil & Structural Engineering at the University of Bradford, receiving a Masters’ in 1997. Julian worked as an engineering manager on leaving university with a speciality in railway engineering, becoming a Chartered Engineer in 2002, before joining Gresham in 2004 on secondment. He bought the company in 2008.

Richard Roebuck — Secondary Liveryman, Gresham Office Furniture

Richard is the Sales Director for Gresham Office Furniture. He studied at Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Ashbourne and then went on to basic training with the Royal Marines. Richard spent 10 successful years as a Sales Manager for BMW and Mercedes Benz before joining Gresham in 2012. Richard’s role is focussed on driving the business forward and he is heavily involved in new product development and branding.

Graham Jones — Prime Liveryman, Knoll International

Graham is the Senior Vice President for Knoll International. He is a Liveryman of The Furniture Makers’ Company and was a Court Assistant. He has re-joined the Court as one of our Corporate Assistants.

David Cunningham — Secondary Liveryman, Knoll International

David is a Director for Knoll International. He was previously a Director for Faram Ltd, who specialise in Office furniture.

Justin Pratt — Secondary Liveryman, Knoll International

Justin is the Manager for Knoll International’s UK studio, responsible for the businesses luxury furniture. He has been a studio manager with Knoll since 2004.Justin has a degree in Product Design from Fulneck School.

Alex Gifford — Prime Liveryman, The Senator Group

Alex is in charge of Brand and Design at Allermuir, part of the Senator Group, since joining last year. He was on the Court until this year, and is still the Chairman of the Design Guild Mark Committee, and has been involved with the Company for over 8 years.

Craig Gunson — Secondary Liveryman, The Senator Group

Craig is the Corporate Sales Director at Senator, having joined the Company as a Sales Executive in 1999. He has held sales roles across the company, his last role having been South Sales Director previously. Craig studied Behavioural Sciences at Nottingham University before taking a position in sales at Shire Business Interiors. After three years at Shire, he moved to Senator. Craig lives in Solihull with his wife and three children.