Our team of experts have a wealth of experience and knowledge to help you work smarter and faster.
Marketing Executive
Millie strives to promote positivity and works within the Marketing team contributing to internal communications, running our social media channels, video and podcast production, charity work and awards submissions. Millie also supports our Mental Health Champions to create a supportive working environment. Millie has a passion for self-development as well as doing everything she can to help her colleagues.
Millie studied A Levels in Sociology, English Language / Literature and Photography before joining Tharstern in 2018 as an apprentice. In her first two years, Millie completed her Level 4 Digital Marketing Apprenticeship during which time she was nominated for the Themis ‘Future Boss Award’ and came runner up. She is now in her final year of BA (Hons) Digital Marketing Degree. Millie was also part of the application process that saw Tharstern win the BIBAs Medium Business of the Year Award 2019 and she has also won Employee of the Month twice!
When she isn’t hard at work or studying, Millie loves dancing (she has plenty of awards from her many years at the dance academy and is a groover on the dancefloor, but she wouldn’t tell you that!), she also likes travelling and getting creative with photography and digital art.
Creative Lead
I’ve recently found a love for Basketball and started playing for Rossendale Raptors Ladies. I’m also a keen runner and enjoy taking part in racing events. I love anything CMYK, making things look pretty and enjoy outdoor adventures.
My role here at Tharstern is Creative Lead, I'm a digital media nerd through and through and proud to describe myself as a 'Full Stack Designer' - I love to create for both print and screen based projects. I also like to get involved with organising staff and charity events.
I am one of the two employee champions / mental health first aiders at Tharstern, in which my role is to help raise awareness, work to end the stigma in the workplace and signpost support for colleagues.
Marketing and Communications Strategist
Sophie does everything she can to nurture good and lasting relationships with our customers and organises our presence at events, exhibitions and in the press.
Sophie has been with Tharstern for over three years and her main roles are event planning, customer engagement, podcast planning, PR and Advertising, retrieving Feefo reviews and customer testimonials, and campaign planning.
Before Tharstern, Sophie’s experience laid in both traditional and digital PR. Her first job was at an events management company, running the social channels and PR activities. She then took a leap into agency life and worked for 3 years as Digital PR Strategist at an SEO agency, before moving to Tharstern.
She is proud to be a part of making the partnership between Tharstern and our customers a happy and successful one and her dedicated and meticulous approach to planning and organisation makes her a real rock for the entire Tharstern team.
Sophie graduated with a BSc in Sport Management and continues her love of keeping active, regularly lifting realllllly heavy weights and lots of walking with her pride and joy, Bruce the dog! She also knows how to relax, watching Netflix series, tucking into a fancy cheese board and a nice artisan beer or gin!
Customer Partnership Manager
I am holding a painting of a daffodil because I am a proud Welshman. And the other picture is a collection of wristbands from all the festivals I have been to.
I'm always on the end of the phone as the first point of contact for our customers! I deal with general customer enquiries or any other queries that may come in.
My red Ferrari cap…..not because I have a Ferrari hidden away or aspire to have one, but for my love for F1 and adoration of Michael Schumacher.
What do I here at Tharstern? Well, I’m the Knowledge Manager and responsible for the knowledge articles for the Customer Resource Centre, User Guides, Release Notes, the Tharstern Operating Model, and for the classroom training courses that we hold.
What have I done in my past life? I have been a Technical Author for 21 years which included 12 years of classroom training, both authoring and teaching. 21 years later and I still love what I do 😊
Finance Director
I am a keen golfer and a member at Blackburn Golf Club where I can be found most weekends in the summer
As Finance Director I am responsible for the looking after all the UK and US financial matters, I am also responsible for HR matters such as Contracts, Payroll, Pensions and Employee benefits. As Company Secretary, I look after the Companies’ statutory filings, insurances and any legal matters that arise.
I have worked in Finance for over 30 years, the first 9 in private practice where I gained my qualifications before moving into the commercial world. I have been a Finance Director for the last 19 years operating in retail, food service and now software business’.
I have a great love of the outdoors, especially on two wheels! The picture I'm holding was expertly drawn by our eldest, Faye, who in the picture is holding the newest member of the family, Erin.
As a member of the support team, my usual day consists of helping with system performance queries, infrastructure questions and general support.
My background is based in IT, previously supporting businesses across the Yorkshire Dales specialising in rural connectivity and IT support.
I am an avid and committed rugby fan. Be it watching the magnificent England rugby team or the slightly less magnificent Harlequins or my boy running out for the first team at the Weybridge Vandals, I love watching this magnificent game: 80 minutes of thuggery played by gentlemen. I have worked in the printing industry all my life having worked in all areas including a Heidelberg press operator and worked managerially at the first desktop publish studio in the UK (LaserBureau - just off Baker Street in London).
I support the sales team with customer and prospect engagements especially when it comes to integration. I also help with ROI cases, sales proposal creations and general integration support for customers and my colleagues.
I recently joined Tharstern from Heidelberg where I had worked alongside Keith and the team for approximately 15 years on various high profile CIP4 projects and exhibitions.
In her role here as Customer Success Manager, Jennifer endeavours to help our customers utilize Tharstern in a way that helps them better understand their business. She supports the sales team during demonstrations and discoveries alongside the live implementations of our MIS. You will also bump into her at trade exhibitions.
Based in Greater Atlanta, US, Jennifer has worked at Tharstern for 5 Years and is proud of learning and implementing what was originally a UK based product.
Jennifer has over 20 years of experience in the printing industry, before Tharstern she held a wide variety of roles for a high-volume digital printer including Press Operator, Estimator, IT, Prepress and Web to Print Manager. During which time she implemented Web to Print systems before they were mainstream and operated the first Indigo Press in the Southeast United States. Previous to that Jennifer was in commercial banking and graduated with BBA Business Administration at Iowa State University.
Outside of work Jennifer enjoys traveling (speaking both English and Spanish) and being outdoors; hiking, biking, swimming, kayaking and sailing and also likes being creative with any kind of needlework and baking.
I am a Customer Success Manager here at Tharstern and I travel around the country to train our customers on using the system. I am an ex-Tharstern user/administrator myself so you can ask me about all the core Tharstern modules.
I have 24 years printing and MIS experience in multiple sectors and I will be able to answer many questions about the printing industry, whether it be Litho, Digital. Wide Format, Screen or Flexo.
I try and take every opportunity to travel and have recently ‘rebooted’ a dormant interest in backpacking. In the past I have trekked in Tanzania, Morocco, California and Utah but am planning to do a lot more hiking closer to home after signing up for the UK Mountain Leader Award Scheme.
As Head of Product, I manage the queue of items that make it in to development. There is seemingly an unlimited supply of new ideas that come in from the various teams and of course our existing customers but there is only a finite amount of development resource. I work closely with Pete the Product Analyst and Paul the Customer Success Manager to make sure that the items that make it to the front of the queue offer the greatest benefit to the largest number of stakeholders.
My first Job was in repro with a large printer in Leeds which provided valuable experience, helping me secure a job at Dupont and subsequently Agfa. After 12 years in a variety of roles, I decided to challenge myself and signed up for a part time MBA. It was a tough four years, but I came out the other side with a determination to try something new which is how I ended up here at Tharstern.
The American flag represents my move to America for work and to start a new adventure for Tharstern Inc. I settled in Denver, Colorado, in the heart of The Rocky Mountains, a place I proudly call “home”.
I’m a Customer Success Manager, so I’m responsible for advising and training clients on how to get the most out of their Tharstern MIS. This includes project management, project implementation and delivery, business development and helping our support team with client questions.
I started in the print industry straight out of high school where I became a Print Finisher – I didn’t even know what that was at the time! As time went on, I moved to operating multiple presses getting my hands dirty to then eventually becoming a Production Manager in a small print shop. I then became eager to learn more and ventured into the estimating side of print where I used Tharstern day to day. I came across an amazing opportunity to work for Tharstern so in 2014 I jumped at the chance!
I look after Business Development in the South of England and Wales, helping new clients on their journey to improve efficiency, automation and ultimately profitability within their print businesses. The industry has changed so much during my 20 years at Tharstern, it still excites me to see software and technology solving the big problems faced by our customers.
Becoming a dad in 2017 means life has taken a leap to a new level of awesome, and with another one on the way things are about to get even more interesting (or chaotic)- can’t wait to find out. I always seem to find the time to indulge in my passion for cooking- as the resident “chef” of the house I can often be found taking over the kitchen and using far too many pots and pans to come up with a latest creation. There’s nothing I love more than a family Sunday, cooking up a roast with a Keith Floyd-style glass of red on the go to keep the creativity flowing.
I became Tharstern’s first Distributor in 2002 and I am the MD for Australasia. My favorite part of the job, aside from working with a talented team of colleagues, are the partnerships that have come from working with some bold and inspiring printers in the industry.
I have a background in design, business development and print, transitioned into print MIS technology through various roles in NZ, Australia and the U.S.A.
My job at Tharstern is Infrastructure Specialist and I travel the length and breadth of the UK installing our systems. I have been to most, if not all customer sites in the UK so you can also ask me about the IT infrastructure.
I also have some great knowledge of technical or implementation requirements and recommendations and you can also ask me generally about anything IT related.
I enjoy mowing my field and making cider. And drinking cider.
I have been in the industry for 20 years, with a background in prepress, production and estimating, printing is in my blood. Covering workflow implementation in the UK and US and heading up our workflow professional services, I dream about automation.
I am the Technical Director and one of Tharstern New Zealand’s original founders having previously started out in software programming and working hands-on with ERP solutions. I take a “No. 8 Wire” attitude to find and build solutions for customers.
I am also an enthusiastic philatelist of New Zealand related historical items and a keen follower of The All Blacks, even at 2am in the morning.
Amongst other things, I specialize in developing our cutting-edge integration software, using JDF and other technologies with vendors across the industry. I have detailed knowledge about JDF, IDC, e4print, Ganging, TIM and the little plugin children and a little workflow stuff.
You can also ask me about anything crazy you find going on at a Customer's site, and maybe some other stuff I've repressed over the years!
I have been with Tharstern for over a decade and I am based in the Auckland office. I am regularly drawn into projects assisting my colleagues.
I would say I am thorough and methodical with a passion for technology. I love helping customers push the limits of the system to achieve the most efficient and effective results.
I am a confessed ‘Petrol-head’ and ‘Head-banger’ when not calmly working through customer queries.
I have a varied background that includes the RNZAF, NZ Police and then into technology based positions with HP for many years, I wanted to get back to the help desk role which i had performed previously, but one that would challenge me more.
So why am I here brandishing an authentic Japanese samurai sword? Well, this sword was given to me by my Grandfather, who had it surrendered to him by a Japanese officer during WWII. He was such an awesome guy, a bit grumpy sometimes, but super intelligent and an amazing role model to me. It was his decision to buy a home computer way back in 1981 that introduced me to computing and I’ve never looked back.
I started out life as a video game developer, but then decided in the early ‘90s to get a proper grown-up job and moved into print MIS development. I’ve now been with Tharstern for 27 years, taking over the role of Managing Director in 1995 and then leading a management buy-out when the original founder’s family sold the business in 2014. I like to think I’m pretty clued up on all things related to computing and technology in the printing industry, especially integrated workflows, automation and JDF, and I’m regularly asked to speak on these topics at industry events.
Print has been part of my life since my folks bought a printing business when I was 10 years old. Since then I have worked in print production, business management, key account management and I now enjoy the challenging and varied role of Tharstern technical support on the Tharstern ANZ Support Desk.
My role is the GM for Tharstern Australia, based in Sydney and I originally come from the print industry.
I am father to three adorable kids; husband to the lovely Di’ and keen on cycling and fitness. I am highly skilled in business development and project management and I take great pleasure in forming a strong, ongoing association with customers through consistent involvement in their business.
In my spare time, I really enjoy playing foftball and catching up with friends and family.
My role at Tharstern is the System Implementation Consultant, based in Sydney. I originally trained in Graphic Design and my passion for all things printing and how they work led me through several roles within the industry before joining Tharstern Australia. Building relationships and working together to achieve goals is a driving force.
I brought my camera along to show my passion for photography. I started to take photos when I was just a young lad and now use my skills to take photos of wildlife, landscapes and portraits of family. I'm really interested in the technical skills that photography brings so would love to learn more about the functions and capabilities of my trusty Canon.
I am a Customer Success Manager here at Tharstern, having joined the company in 2000. In this time, I have become competent in all the main modules we supply. I enjoy solving customer problems and finding ways to make our software work better for them and their company.
I have worked in the printing industry since leaving university, and prior to coming here, I specialised in sheet-fed litho estimating and account management.
I have represented Great Britain in several FINA World Masters Swimming Championships and a couple of European Masters. One of the swim caps in my photo is from 2014 Montréal and the other swim cap and accreditation are from 2017 Budapest. The best result I’ve managed was 10th place in the 2008 championships for 200m Breaststroke in 35 years+ age group.
I started at Tharstern over 20 years ago as a Developer and have now progressed to Technical Lead. My primary role is development on the Primo application, in which I look after the scheduling module.
I started commercial development in March 1988 using BASIC before transitioning to C++. I was initially on the Job Training Scheme (predecessor to Employment Training)
I am pictured wearing my 'Printer of The Year' medal whilst holding the piece of print that won!
My job at Tharstern is to head up the training team and to make sure that our customers are happy and receive the correct training.
I have a vast knowledge of all aspects of the printing industry having spent over 25 years on various print presses and in business management.
Since being introduced to photography about 10 years ago, I now have a passion for macro photography due to the incredible detail achieved which is impossible to see with the naked eye.
Working within the Admin team at Tharstern, you get involved in many aspects of the business. My current position of Credit Controller and HR Administrator provides a variety of work, getting involved with both the customers and staff, no two days are the same.
Although I’ve had previous experience of the printing industry, working for a provincial newspaper, this was as part of the accounts team and providing secretarial support for the Chief Accountant. Prior to my current role, I spent approx 18 years as Training Co-ordinator at Tharstern, enjoying liaising with both our customers and training consultants on a regular basis.
I enjoy playing snooker in my spare time, having captained a local club team for a number of years. Highlights include visiting the Crucible for the World Championship Finals along with playing against (and losing to) Cliff Thorburn on 2 occasions.
As the Commercial Manager at Tharstern my job covers many areas, including responsibilities for all aspects of Sales Order Processing, Contracts and Licensing, the calculation of Annual Maintenance Renewals, Purchase Order Processing and any Health and Safety matters.
Having been a member of the Tharstern Team since 1995 I’ve gained a whole host of experience relating to all things Tharstern.
I am the Chief Business Development Officer at Tharstern and I head up the sales team. I like getting heavily involved in generating new business, ensuring we are at the forefront of the industry. I am in charge of the company’s sales functions for both new business and to our existing customers in the UK and US.
Customer Enrolment Manager
The thing I’m most passionate about outside of work is my family who said the things that best described me were Joe Wicks (body coach/Lean in 15) and Starbucks and they’re not far wrong... I love a good HIIT Workout to keep me fit and all I need is my shorts, trainers and motivation. And I love a good coffee, especially a Starbucks flat white.
I’m a Customer Enrolment Manager here at Tharstern and have been here since 2003. I look after the East Midlands all the way to the top of Scotland as well as North and South Ireland. I often help with overseas enquiries too.
I’m passionate about helping print businesses to use their MIS to improve customer service, grow sales, streamline admin and integrate and automate workflows. I guess ultimately to reduce costs and improve profits.
This map shows one of my favourite place in Britain, the Cairngorms in the Scottish Highlands, where I’ve spent many days and nights walking, camping, and climbing.
Here at Tharstern, I oversee most of the operational and service aspects of the business including order fulfilment, project delivery, support as well as our own IT and business systems.
I’ve spent 26+ years at Tharstern and I've seen pretty much every installation of software since 1992!
I am a very keen traveller, ticking as many places off my list as I can but there’s plenty more left on there, too. I also travel to see Arsenal as often as I can, though it is painful at times (#COYG). Finally my much-loved pooch, Hector (Heccy for short) - we love long walks and lots of snuggles.
I am the Accounts Assistant here at Tharstern, I look after order processing, invoicing and general accounting-based duties. Usually, I am the first one to pick up a call so feel free to ask me anything, and I’ll be happy to help.
I started here in 2014 as an apprentice and continued on to get my AAT qualification. I hope to carry on and be the best I can be.
Leigh has been with Tharstern for over 21 years and endeavours to design and develop products that others not only find useful but enjoy using. As Software Developer, Leigh is proud to have worked on many modules including Multi-stock location support, Layout library, Tharstern App, Barcode Scanner, Fulfilment modules and Folding schemes with 3D animations. Leigh is well versed in most things print related, but his speciality is stock control.
Previous to Tharstern, Leigh undertook housekeeping duties for a family business whilst also working as a courier in the evenings and weekends. Before that he completed 4 years as an apprentice aerospace engineer and qualified with an ONC and HNC in engineering.
Outside of work Leigh enjoys watching movies/shows and is an avid gamer, whether that is on the PC, board games or tabletop RPGs, making a presence in various photos from his local gaming shop. He is also a proud 3-time winner of the Web User monthly readers competition for the highest score in the JavaScript game of the month. Leigh is also a dab hand at building PC’s.
Mat is your man when it comes to reports and navigating the database. He has been with Tharstern over 20 years, and is proud of his in depth knowledge of the database and crystal reports.
As a Software Developer, Mat undertakes roles such as:
You will see Mat at Tharstern customer events showcasing our Business Intelligence module and, in his element, delivering Crystal Reports training sessions for customers. He also accompanied the team on stage to collect the BIBAS Medium Business of the Year Award in 2019.
Before Tharstern Mat worked in Technical Support, including various front-line support roles at Time Computers and was proud to have worked up to 2nd line support.
Outside of work Mat plays guitar in a band (see him pictured with his favourite guitar which was a gift from the company for 10 years’ service) and is working through his belts in Wing Chun. He also likes getting out for walks with his partner and his dog.
I have been a golfer for about 40 years, and that club (featured in my picture) and previous incarnations of it, have saved my day on many occasions, when the rest of the bag of clubs were not behaving.
I work with the support team, taking calls and emails, and dealing with the many a varied support requests, while maintaining a pleasant rapport with the customers where appropriate.
Before working at Tharstern, I started as manufacturing engineer, before moving to I.T. as a computer operator (using a machine half the size of a standard living room) that had less processing power than my phone has now. I then progressed to a support role, dealing with internal and external customers and all aspects of I.T., hardware and software.
I am a keen Manchester United fan (actually from Manchester) and love going to watch them play.
My role at Tharstern is Support Analyst and I am a specialist in all the core modules of our MIS. I also help to investigate problems you encounter with the Tharstern software as well as arranging and deploying Tharstern software updates.
Put simply, these are the 3 biggest loves of my life... after Tharstern of course.
As Head of Customer Happiness, my role is to represent Customers within Tharstern to ensure we continue to improve what we deliver and how we deliver it.
Following graduation, I started with Tharstern as a fresh-faced boy back in 1998. Since then, I have enjoyed many different roles working within Sales, Development, Consultancy and Support (including a 2-year stint working overseas with a Tharstern Distributor). I returned to the UK in 2007 to work as Business System Manager for the then largest Tharstern customer, before realising the error of my ways and returning into Keith’s open arms in 2012. Having sold, implemented and used Tharstern, I have fantastic insight into what an MIS really means to a printer
Two decades ago I was afforded a 6 month break from working at Tharstern to go travel the world. I took in the likes of the USA, Guyana, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore and India. Since then Tharstern has customers in most of these places so I'm just trying to line myself up for the Fiji job!
While in Australia I spent a few days making my own didgeridoo, from branch, to waxed finished article.
I am the Product Champion and I know the software inside and out. If there is something in the product that I don't know about, then we didn’t put it there! I can answer all of your questions about how our suite of software can or should work.
I love the Midi Fighter which is a programmable DJ MIDI controller for the super geek, hand built and featuring the finest Sanwa OBSC-24 Japanese Arcade Buttons.
I work within the web app team of development and you will often catch me shining CSS, vanquishing JavaScript and crushing C#
I have spent over 20 years delivering bespoke web applications which has given me a wealth of knowledge across the development stack, with lots of skills bleeding over into the operations and implementation side of the development life cycle
My photo shows me with my camera. It’s a Canon 7dMKII and gets a fair bit of usage every week while I’m out and about taking wildlife photos.
As the Customer Happiness Manager, I help coordinate the Support team so they can deliver excellent service and support to our customers.
I have enjoyed over 23 years working in IT support with 20 of those years working in different support roles here at Tharstern.
I got into print as a young administrator working my way through different departments up to Group Customer Services where I headed up the Estimating and Account Management team.
I joined Tharstern in 2007 as Customer Success Manager (CSM), travelling across the country training customers on using the system. My new role as Customer Success Team Liaison, is to assist our CSM’s to deliver project days and project management services. I am the communication channel for our customers during the implementation process.
I’m always happy to assist and like to tailor my method to suit the customer and encourage communication and questions no matter how big or small the query. I listen to customers and then decide what approach needs to be taken based on their needs.
I am a huge dog lover and love going out on walks with my dog Chloe to get out in the fresh air!
I am the housekeeper here at Tharstern and I like to make sure that everyone is comfortable and that the building is left spotless when I'm finished!
I began working at Tharstern in 1991 and during my time with Tharstern, especially in the early days, I have worked on numerous different parts of the software.
In the last twenty years or so however, I have mainly been working on the estimating module, both Estimate Classic and now the newer Estimate PRO module.
Since I’ve been working here for 25 years, I like to think that my knowledge of the software is pretty good!
My role here at Tharstern is Software Tester, this involves testing all the latest developments and changes to the software, feeding back when necessary to the development team to ensure the software is fit for purpose.
I have worked in IT since Graduating from University, working on many aspects from Support, IT Projects, Testing and Integrations.
Dale is extremely passionate about his work and strives to deliver on requirements to the highest standard and produce cool features that will satisfy the needs of his employers, colleagues and customers.
As part of our Product Development team, Dale has been with Tharstern for almost two years. He specialises in Software Development and Web Design. He is proud to have worked on exciting new product developments like the Remote Access Portal which he built from scratch and continues ongoing support of the Mobile Inventory Add-On tool.
Before joining Tharstern, Dale has over 20 years of experience delivering IT solutions for different industries ranging from Banks, FTSE100 Companies and Councils. He is proud to have been involved in producing building control, child services, call centre software and council systems that benefitted the community of Blackburn.
Dale also holds multiple A Levels, one in Computer Science, a BTEC HND in Computing and BSc Degree in Computing.
When not in work Dale loves spending time socialising with his family and friends, he also likes to keep fit with running and regular exercise. He is a big football fan and loves watching the game and supporting his local team Burnley FC. Dale also takes a keen interest in other subjects such as Stock Market, Ornithology, Fish Keeping, Astronomy, Politics and Railways.