Meet the Team.

Alys Brown

Customer Relations Executive

Alys Brown joined Sava in 2021 as Customer Relations Executive in the Software sales team. She facilitates software demonstrations with new potential clients, manages our customer relationships and provides sales support to the team. Alys is also on the Sava Wellness Committee helping to organise our staff events and looking after the wellbeing of our staff.

She graduated from the University of Lincoln in 2016 with BA (Hons) in Drama, and the faculty award for school leadership. Previously she has worked in hospitality, as a Sales Executive and an event planner at the DoubleTree Hilton Hotel, and as a customer experience supervisor, focused on customer relationships, engagement, and retention.

In her spare time Alys enjoys going to the theatre, baking, and performing in amateur shows. Last Christmas she had a leading role in Cinderella at the Venue theatre!

Andy Campbell

Senior Software Developer

Andy Campbell joined Sava in August 2021 as a as Senior Software Developer. He develops new features and maintains the Sava Intelligent Energy product, bringing the wealth of experience in quality software development he has acquired over the years.

His experience in software development has covered a broad range of commercial environments since the mid-1990s including financial systems, public sector applications, and even controlling hardware related to the Satellite News Gathering sector (TV news vans, for example).

He has an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of Star Wars. In a moment of madness back in 2000, Andy once drove himself the 280 miles from home to the Lake District, walked up Scafell Pike, walked back down again, then drove back home!

Andy Flook

Development Director

Andy Flook joined the Sava team in 2013 and is now Development Director.

His career started as an apprentice engineer with British Gas and developed his role into setting up training facilities for gas engineering as well as starting a certification body for the renewable technology sector.

Andy loves rugby and has broken his ankle, 3 fingers, shoulder and jaw playing, resulting in him having two steels plates screwed into his chin!

Anne Hinds

Lead Internal Quality Assurer

Anne Hinds joined Sava in October 2021 as Lead Internal Quality Assurer however she has been involved with Sava as an assessor for our courses for the past 20 years. Her role includes ensuring consistency across the assessment team and to train and support the new assessors.

She is a Chartered Surveyor which has given her many amazing experiences including giving evidence in the criminal court to a team of 17 barristers and has years of involvement with RICS including writing their guidance notes.

During her spare time, Anne enjoys knitting and sewing. When she was 16, she was ranked 16th in the country for diving!

Austin Baggett

Managing Director

Austin leads the Sava team in its mission to deliver innovative solutions that increase skills within the built environment sector, as well as helping to reduce carbon emissions and fuel costs within housing.

After studying civil engineering, Austin started his career with ECD Architects and Energy Consultants in 1991 where he helped to co-develop the early BREEAM schemes and qualified as one of the UK’s first NHER energy assessors. He subsequently held positions within marketing and business development with low energy technology product manufacturers before joining National Energy Services (the previous company name for Sava) in 2001. Austin is a chartered engineer and was made an Eminent Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in 2013.

Outside work, Austin enjoys tinkering about with his low energy home and vintage hi-fi and thinking about learning to play his electric guitar.

Carys Atkinson

Residential Surveying Lead

Carys Atkinson joined Sava in January 2021 as Residential Surveying Technical Lead. She is here to assist learners in training and assessment to reach their goal of becoming residential surveyors and valuers. She enjoys making the experience less stressful and more enjoyablefor the learners.

Carys was an estate agent for almost 20 years before following her dream of becoming a residential surveyor and valuer by embarking on the Sava DRSV. Therefore, having completed the diploma herself, she is able to use her personal experiences and highs and lows to make a positive difference to learners currently in training.

Carys was born in Singapore and has also lived in Australia. She enjoys walking her dog, spending time with family, and taking trips to her boat in Southsea.

Claire Bowyer

Chief of Staff

Claire Bowyer joined the Sava team in February 2021 as a Qualification Quality Lead where she brought with her over 25 years of experience of working in a vocational training environment. Initially she was responsible for managing the assessment centre, dealing with the Awarding Body for the Diploma Level 6 in in Residential Surveying and Valuation, and supporting Sava’s team of Internal Quality Assurers and assessors. In September 2021 she changed roles to become Chief of Staff where her focus is now on supporting the Directors and driving forward projects in the business.

Outside of work she likes walking, looking after her various pets and going to concerts and the theatre. She is also a qualified Ballroom and Latin American dance teacher.

Clare Douglas

Qualifications Quality Assurance Lead

Clare Douglas has been working for Sava since January 2022 as Qualifications Quality Assurance Lead. This involves working alongside Anne to support Assessors and Internal Quality Assurers to provide outstanding assessment to learners in order to meet Awarding Organisation requirements. She also helps learners to reach their overall potential and succeed.

Her career began in banking but around 20 years ago she retrained and qualified as a college tutor, and has lots of experience in vocational qualifications and quality assurance of qualifications especially at higher levels.

Clare enjoys countryside walks with her dogs and recently met the President of Barbados at a village cricket match!

Colette Jones

Relationship Director (Energy)

Colette joined Sava in November 2020 as Relationship Director for Technology. Working with Sava’s Intelligent Energy data analysis and planning tool, her role includes building excellent relationships with Sava’s clients, prospects and integration partners to promote, develop and grow the product and business, whilst helping to reduce the overall carbon emissions and fuel costs within housing.

Colette is a Chartered member of the Institute of Housing and has a BSc in Housing. Starting her career at Cardiff Council’s Housing Department she undertook various roles from helping residents with financial matters, social needs and neighbourhood issues through to managing Cardiff’s responsive repairs service. After implementing a housing system at the Council, she moved into the software world working for some of the leading housing and asset management system suppliers, presenting, consulting on and implementing systems in social housing organisations across the UK, Ireland, Hong Kong and South Africa. With her unparalleled knowledge and experience of the social housing sector, she played a major part in these suppliers’ growth, success and reputation for the highest levels of customer service.

In her spare time, Colette either volunteers at St Vincent’s, a centre providing the building blocks and practical support to turn problems into positive futures for everyone in the area, or is occupied by her endless home refurbishment and running around for her family (sometimes in a chicken suit!!)

Daniel Hobbins

Education Technologist

Daniel joined the Sava team in September 2023 as Education Technologist to create visually pleasing and engaging learning content. He assists with the development of Sava courses along with updating and perfecting existing content.  

Daniel graduated from Nottingham Tent University in 2023 with a degree in Product Design. Before joining Sava, he worked in various roles ranging from hospitality to bike maintenance and kitchen design.  

Outside of work, he enjoys watching films with a great plot and going for bike rides or long walks in new and often challenging places, most recently completing Snowdon in North Wales. 

Darren Walker

Technical Consultant

Darren Walker has been working at Sava since 2021 as a Data Specialist. He works in the analytics team helping customers to understand the energy efficiency attributes of their housing stock, and to benchmark their performance including how to improve it. He presents webinars on our software and how to use it to help manage your housing stock.

Prior to joining Sava, Darren graduated from the University of Lancaster with a computer science degree and finds his job role the perfect fit between his degree and his desire to work in the sustainability sector.

Outside of work, Darren enjoys going for walks whilst listening to podcasts and attending drum and bass music events.

David Gorrie

Data Specialist

David Gorrie joined Sava in November 2021 as a Data Specialist in the technical team. He mostly aids in the testing and development of the Sava Intelligent Energy engine alongside consultancy projects for customers.

David graduated from Loughborough University with a degree in economics. Before joining Sava, he previously worked as part of the commercial performance analytics team for Eaton as a data analyst.

In his spare time he likes to travel.

Ellie Parker

Marketing and Communications Manager

Ellie is our Marketing and Communications Manager working across our education department, planning and coordinating marketing activity focused on the Diploma in Residential Surveying and Valuation – Sava’s vocational route into the residential surveying profession – and our suite of continuous professional development (CPD) modules.

Ellie isn’t new to Sava, having started her graduate career with us back in 2012 before leaving in 2017 to further develop her career in marketing and communications. Since then, Ellie has completed her Master’s Degree in Creative Writing at the University of Cambridge, enjoyed a successful career as Communications Manager for Network Rail’s training function and most recently held the position of Creative and Communications Manager for EdTech company, Kortext.

In her spare time, Ellie is a relentless baker, writer and cat enthusiast, and loves to throw shapes in the kitchen while she cooks. She is an unashamed Simply Red fan and has seen them live too many times to count.

Gareth Richardson

Technology Consultant

Gareth Richardson joined the Sava team in May 2022 as a Technology Consultant. This involves working with customers data to recommend processes to clients to help them reach their carbon goals. He is currently developing new consultancy products which will further assist our clients in improving their tenants quality of living, including fuel poverty and zero carbon.

Before joining Sava, Gareth completed his degree in Physics and Biomedical Engineering, and a Masters’ Degree which culminated in designing, building, and programming a portable absorption spectrometer for use by medics.

He enjoys kayaking or playing ultimate frisbee if the weather is good. He also likes playing board games or reading fantasy novels. He was born with cataracts and has had a lens transplant in both eyes!

George Walley

Data Specialist

George Walley joined Sava in May 2022 as a Data Specialist. He carries out various tasks for the technical team, namely in-depth testing to make sure that Intelligent Energy works as intended. He also collects and analyses data regarding how our customers use Intelligent Energy.

George graduated from Nottingham Trent University in 2021 with a degree in Business with Accounting. Before joining Sava, he previously worked for a window manufacturing company in Watford.

He is an Arsenal fan, who enjoys using his spare time to exercise, play the drums or guitar, and attend live-gigs.

Hilary Grayson

Director

Hilary Grayson joined Sava in 2003 and is now a Director focusing much of her time on the development of new qualifications.

Following a degree in Estate Management at Southbank Polytechnic (now LSBU), Hilary qualified as a General Practice Surveyor in 1983 leading her to work for private consultancies in London and Bromley Council before joining RICS at Great George Street. She joined Surveyors and Valuers Accreditation Ltd which was later acquired by NES Ltd (now Sava). At Sava, she went on to set up the original assessment centre and created the Diploma in Residential Surveying and Valuation.

Hilary enjoys making art in her garden studio, walking her dogs by the Grand Union Canal, modern art and listening to vintage radio dramas. She is also a trustee at Westbury Arts Centre in Shenley Wood here in Milton Keynes.

Johnnie Leather

Public Policy Researcher

Johnnie Leather joined Sava in September 2022 as a Public Policy Researcher. He writes articles for the website and Technical Bulletins, as well researching and analysing environmental policy developments in the built environment. In addition to this Johnnie assists with the organisation and running of our weekly technical webinars.

Before joining Sava, Johnnie attended the University of Leeds, attaining a Degree in Classical Civilisation and a Masters in Social and Public Policy. His Masters dissertation explored the role of management consultants in the government’s policy making process.

In his spare time, he likes to cook, often trialling Mediterranean inspired recipes on his family and bringing in leftovers for the office (if they are lucky!).

Julie Vidal

Lead Education Technologist

Julie Vidal joined the Sava team in 2007 and is now Lead Education Technologist. She assists with the development of Sava courses, taking content from trainers and turning them into engaging and visually pleasing packages along with quizzes and other learning material. When Julie first joined Sava, she helped with the start-up of compliance for EPC audits that had newly come into legislation.

When creating course content, she draws upon her own experience of distance learning with CILEX and when she qualified as a Domestic Energy Assessor. Prior to working for Sava, Julie spent 16 years working in various property-based roles for a high street bank.

In her spare time, Julie enjoys walking, running and paddleboarding in local parks and rivers and a good night out with her friends!

John Wilkinson

Finance Director

John Wilkinson joined Sava in 2000 and is the Finance Director. He is responsible for all aspects of financial management in Sava and has participated in all the transformations that Sava has gone through including a name change, acquisitions, asset sales and setting up and closure of subsidiaries.

John is an ACCA qualified accountant and has an MBA from Warwick Business School. Before joining Sava, he worked in the healthcare and travel sector.

Outside work, John runs in the occasional 10k race, sings in a choir and rides a tandem.

Helen Orme

Head of Customer Engagement

Helen Orme joined the Sava team in 2006 and became Head of Customer Engagement in 2020. Her job role includes looking after marketing and training delivery. She is passionate about promoting Sava and seeing our learners start new fulfilling careers.

Helen studied Business Management with Marketing at University and is a Chartered Institute of Marketing Member.

Helen enjoys attending events with Sava and loves cooking and renovating her house.

Hayley Bowkett

Scheme and Communications Coordinator

Hayley Bowkett is a part of our Sava team as Scheme and Communications Coordinator.

Hayley has been working at Sava most of her working life and first started as a teenager helping with the catering for the training we provided. After finishing A Levels, she left Sava and gained an NVQ in Beauty Therapy but soon after re-joined. She qualified as a Domestic Energy Assessor in 2012 and was part of the compliance and technical support team when we ran an EPC Accreditation Scheme. Hayley is currently undertaking the Diploma in Residential Surveying and Valuation. Some of Hayley’s responsibilities include putting together our newsletters, recruitment bulletin, and the Sava technical bulletins.

In her spare time, she enjoys singing, her dogs, walks in nature, and good food and drinks with her friends and family. She once sang Valerie by Amy Winehouse at a party with Ben Haenow who went on to win X Factor.

Georgina Gibson

Customer Engagement Manager

Georgina Gibson joined Sava in March 2022 as Customer Engagement Manager. Her main role is to ensure the smooth delivery of service for our customers and continually improve on this.

She has been working in the residential sector for around 10 years with her journey starting as a Claims Handler with the National Housing Building Council (NHBC). Following a stint in recruitment she fell into her role at NHBC and realised she had a real passion for the built environment. This quickly progressed with a move to Barratt David Wilson Homes Eastern Division as Customer Care Office Manager.

Her passions outside of work are her two dogs, Ruby and Maddie and going for long walks, yoga, meditation, and mindfulness. Georgina also lived in France for 2 years!

Dr Lisa Blake

Head of Technical (Energy)

Dr Lisa Blake joined the Sava team in 2006 and is currently Head of Technical, working with Sava Intelligent Energy and SAP/ RdSAP. Since working for Sava, she has worked in various technical roles supporting our customers and software development.

Lisa is originally from London where she studied Physics at Kings College London and moved to Milton Keynes to complete her PhD in Astrophysics. After a brief spell teaching, she initially joined Sava as an Energy Consultant, working with Social Landlords and developing her understanding of SAP.

She likes cats, death metal, beer, maths, and SUP. In her spare time, she enjoys preserving dead animals.

Mark Blundred

Senior Software Developer

Mark Blundred joined the Sava team in February 2021 as a Senior Software Developer. He works to implement new features into Sava Intelligent Energy. At the end of 2021, he was part of the team that developed custom attributes, enabling our customers to group their properties together using their own data, which can then be used in the improvement planning feature.

Mark has been programming since he was twelve years old and his first job out of university was a C# web developer. He has lived in France where he was a developer before taking a career break as an English teacher.

He likes chess, video games, cooking, playing piano, linguistics, and his pug. Mark also can’t metabolize coffee and was 24 years old when he figured this out!

Mark Sreeves

Technical Sales Manager

Mark Sreeves became Sava’s Technical Sales Manager in 2014. He takes the leading role within the company of working with our software clients to understand how we can meet their needs, provide in-depth training, and delivering technical webinars.

Mark obtained a BSc in Science and Technology at Middlesex University and since the late 1980s has worked as an energy consultant supporting organisations with energy efficiency, fuel poverty and managing carbon. He is a qualified energy assessor (and a teacher) and is committed to working in an area of work that is helping to maintain and improve the environment.

Outside of work, Mark enjoys going to the theatre and cinema and more recently has been learning more about plants and trees by creating a garden.

Matt Bailey

Head of Education Development

Matt Bailey joined Sava in 2018 and heads up the Education Development team. This involves managing the team that designs and manages all the existing content included in the range of training Sava offers and managing the assessment processes involved in all of these qualifications. He also leads the development of any new training or qualifications Sava will launch.

Matt is a qualified Trainer, Assessor, IQA and CIAG advisor. He has vast experience working with Awarding Bodies – managing the quality assurance procedures attached to regulated training, as well as designing a range of bespoke training programmes for employers.

Outside of work, he loves football – particularly Liverpool FC. He also enjoys watching most sports, taking part in a quiz, listening to a range of music, watching films, and a nice cup of tea.

Molly Ledlie

Business Administration Apprentice

Molly joined Sava in October 2023 to begin her Business Administration apprenticeship. Molly supports the Training team helping to ensure that learners can navigate the training process smoothly, and also assists the Marketing team. She has recently finished education where she completed A Levels in Maths, Chemistry and Physics, before deciding she wanted to work in an office environment as she likes to be kept busy!

Molly has a dog called Barney and also lives with two other dogs, Stanley and Wilson. Outside of work, she enjoys going on long dog walks, baking, and watching Star Wars. She also enjoys going out for food and drinks with friends.

Dr Neil Cutland

Consultancy Director

Neil Cutland joined the Sava team in 2022 as Consultancy Director and is building Sava’s data and energy consultancy work. This is after a long career as an energy and sustainability consultant, specialising in low energy buildings with a particular focus on housing.  Neil is one of the authors of the BREDEM mathematical models that underpin the SAP, is a Member of the Institute of Physics and has sat on various Government and related advisory panels.

Following his doctoral research on the thermodynamics of industrial heat recovery devices, Neil undertook extensive performance monitoring of the homes on the iconic Energy Park in Milton Keynes.  He subsequently helped to develop and deliver the training programme for NHER energy assessors.

Neil enjoys driving classic sportscars, playing rock guitar and skiing – with more enthusiasm than skill in all cases.

Nicola Pugh

Billing and Collections Manager

Nicola Pugh joined Sava in 2014. She was responsible for implementing and improving the collections process for the ECO Online customer base. Since 2014, her role has evolved to encompass the end-to-end billing and collections process for the whole Sava customer base.

Nicola studied Credit Management at the Chartered Institute of Credit Management, graduating in 1999. She helped design and implement process and system improvements in her Accounts Receivable Management role for Accenture, where she managed a large team between 1999 and 2006.

Nicola enjoys spending time with her children, good food with family and good friends, travel, music, forest walks and Christmas. She lived in Canada for a while as a child and ended up there again on September 11th, 2001, after her plane on route to California had to make an emergency landing due to the terrorist attacks.

Paul Wolfe

Software Development Director

Paul Wolfe is our Software Development Director and leads our software development both in terms of new products and ensuring the right technology choices. Paul originally joined Sava in 1992 after having completed a degree in Computer Science. He left in 2002 to undertake a variety of roles in the software industry before re-joining Sava in 2014.

Paul has a in-depth background in the built environment, having developed some of the UK’s first energy assessment software.

Paul likes the sunshine, the sea, hot weather and playing the guitar. His favourite film is Pulp Fiction. He used to coach national level trampolinists and can speak French to a good level.

Rosie Houston

Course Advisor

Rosie Houston joined the Sava team in September 2021 as a Course Advisor in the Training Sales Team. Her role includes helping guide prospective learners on the path to becoming surveyors.

Rosie has a diploma in social media marketing, and has spent many years working in the sales and marketing sector. She has also worked in audit and quality control, where she has managed teams as a coordinator. Before joining Sava, she was an estate agent.

Outside of work, Rosie enjoys playing the clarinet, painting, and collecting blue and white mugs!

Sam Lott

Energy Data Consultant

Sam Lott joined the Sava team in December 2022 as an Energy Data Consultant. His job is to work with customers to advise on the quality of their housing stock data and give advice on different ways in which they can work towards their zero carbon goals. He is working on broadening our consultancy services with a focus on sustainability and has a keen interest into how we can best advise our clients on retrofitting sustainably and the importance of electrification in the housing sector.

Before joining Sava, Sam completed a degree in Biological Sciences, followed by a Masters of Research in Biological science. This research focused on first time intracerebral haemorrhagic stroke, identifying risk factors that cause early onset and groups that are more predisposed to early onset.

He enjoys travelling in his time off, exploring the globe and different cultures. He loves the outdoors and recently travelled across the US in an RV exploring the country over several weeks.

Sam Bowden

Senior Course Advisor

Sam Bowden joined Sava in 2016 as our Senior Course Sales advisor in the Training Sales Team. His main responsibilities are sales of our diploma and other training courses. He handles first points of enquiry with a consultative call to give potential customers the clearest understanding of the courses and answer all their questions prior to enrolment.

Sam graduated from Canterbury Christ Church University in 2012 with a sports science degree and has worked in sales since, selling everything from gym memberships to hoovers!

Sam enjoys going to the gym, gaming, football, documentaries, and tattoos. He is a fan of Marvel, Heavy Metal and Football.

Sharon Abery

Customer Engagement Executive

Sharon Abery is a Customer Engagement Executive and joined Sava in 2014. She is responsible for ensuring that all learners are registered onto appropriate systems, handling training related queries, helping the students to progress through their qualification and dealing with Awarding Body in relation to certificates and exam codes.

Sharon joined the Youth Training Scheme when she left school where she learnt the basics of Administration and Reception duties and then went on to provide this for the construction company who were building London City Airport.

She enjoys travelling to venues especially if they involve an overnight stay, Gin, Haribo’s and holidaying in Turkey with her best friend.  Her claim to fame was that she was a passenger with Princess Margaret on her first ever flight to Turkey.

Tanner Nypower

Account Assistant

Tanner Nypower joined Sava in April 2022 as an Account Assistant. His role encompasses managing both the payables and receivables of the business.

Tanner studied accounting at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. He has held various accounting positions since 2018 in Canada before moving to England in late 2019 for love and the scenery. Since arriving in England, he has accrued two years of financial experience working in the banking sector before joining Sava.

Outside work, Tanner enjoys making puns, card games, and the oxford comma.

Wendy Ricketts

Training and Learning Support Coordinator

Wendy Ricketts joined Sava in 2011 and is our Training and Learning Support Coordinator, helping learners to navigate through our courses.

She has previously worked for Best Training and Santander in the Lost and Stolen department before ending up as a team manager looking after 15 people in Customer Services.

Wendy enjoys meeting new people, travelling, baking, going to the cinema and theatre, live music, knitting and trying anything new.