Our People Set Us Apart! Meet Our Passionate, Skilled Team

Tom Bright

Commercial Director

From a career spanning Change, Transformation and Technology, and with a constant focus on delivering business value with a consultative sales approach, Tom is building and leading a team to achieve brilliant client success.

Tom has in-depth experience selling innovative and creative solutions into large organisations, and has built successful Business Development and Project teams in the UK and Australia.

He's keen to engage with stakeholders at all levels and aims to bring process and strategy to the sales approach, without losing the magic that keeps it agile and client-focused. Find Tom on LinkedIn.

Andy Shotton

Commercial Director

An energetic leader with over 20 years’ experience in business services, Andy has developed enduring commercial relationships and successfully led customer-obsessed teams throughout his career.

As Commercial Director, he is currently focused on identifying and realising value for our customers and strategic partners – an especially exciting remit as it naturally aligns to Andy’s appetite for achieving results through meaningful solutions and superb service.

Andy is excited by the Group’s growing firepower and its ability to deliver exceptional, measurable results for our partners and clients. Find Andy on LinkedIn.

Gerry Griffin

Founder of Skillpill

Head of Self-Service Learning within the group and Founder of Skillpill, Gerry is a former director of the London Business School and author of six business books. He is also a frequent TV commentator on web developments and has lectured in the US, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Gerry is an advocate for the impact technology can have on workplace learning and productivity. He believes the new Group’s formidable blend of expert consultancy, and creative and technological power, provides a unique opportunity for us to bring a high-quality, complete digital learning offering that will immensely benefit our global clients. Find Gerry on LinkedIn.

Trace Peckett

Director of Learning Operations

Trace leads our Design and Delivery teams, Operational Excellence and People team. She has extensive experience in leading people and driving strategic change through organisations in client-facing and operational roles, with learning and development threaded throughout. 

As well as the finance sector, Trace has experience in media, healthcare, NFP and FE. Trace believes in truly setting people up for success, using NLP and Myers Briggs experience to understand, coach and develop individuals. Trace is committed to a culture of collaboration with clients and team members to ensure that Sponge deliver efficiently, to great quality, having fun on the way. Find Trace on LinkedIn.

Alex Stewart

Head of Solutions Enablement

Responsible for overseeing the Learning Experience Consultancy team and ensuring maximum success in Commercial and Learning Operations, Alex is dedicated to enhancing workforce performance for our clients, through innovative digital learning.

Alex also leads Client Service initiatives and supports the Group’s Learning Science ambition. He is always improving the way we work, and aims to exceed client expectations. Find Alex on LinkedIn.

Martin McLaren

Head of Client Support

Martin looks after Sponge’s Client Support team, which provides expert help to our clients, their learners, customers and our internal teams.

He's spent more than two decades making sure clients get the support they deserve, and is dedicated to providing a reliable, helpful, and friendly service to all and generally making people's lives easier.

A great believer in walking in our clients’ shoes, Martin strives to ensure we have the best opportunities to understand client needs, challenges and frustrations – enabling us to solve the right problems and focus squarely on delivering service excellence. Find Martin on LinkedIn.

Alan Bourne

Head of Operational Excellence

Since joining Sponge in 2007, Alan has worked in roles across the business; from hands-on programming to leading production teams, and now overseeing the company’s operational effectiveness.

Alan’s extensive experience in the elearning sector, understanding of business change and knowledge of lean six sigma principles, means he is perfectly positioned to support the business in identifying and implementing continuous improvements and efficiencies to our client and employee experience.

With a focus on collaboration, Alan always seeks new ways of working and is creating robust processes that support the team to bring our best in everything we do. Find Alan on LinkedIn.

Tamlin Roberts

Director of Innovation & New Product Development

With previous roles including Managing Director of Mercurytide and CEO of Bolt Learning, avid educationalist Tamlin has business experience, technical expertise and a passion for quality learning and the powerful role technology can play in the worlds of education and training.

Responsible for innovation and development of our technical products (Spark and Ignite), Tamlin oversees the Group’s new product development, management for our IT functions, and board-level responsibility for our technical accreditations (ISO).

What drives Tamlin is creating and developing new product ideas and he is always looking for innovative methods for improving our current offering. Find Tamlin on LinkedIn.

Louise Pasterfield

Director of Strategy, Marketing and Communications

Louise founded Sponge in 2004 and has been integral in its drive to become one of the largest custom learning providers in Europe. Her passion is in creating effective, memorable learning experiences for organisations.

Now, as a strategic leader in the broader Sponge Group, she is responsible for identifying new opportunities in the market and setting the direction for collaboration with other leaders in the business.

She also oversees the Group’s marketing strategy and works closely with the business units to integrate service offerings that include custom, ready-to-go and technology solutions. Find Louise on LinkedIn.

Cheryl Lydon

Group Financial Controller

Responsible for finance functions across the company, Cheryl is a member of the senior leadership team and has a prime focus on strategic finance and business planning.

As well as directing the finance team and delivering efficiencies, Cheryl leads and supports on business systems improvements.

A keen advocate of feedback and collaboration, Cheryl is always looking for ways to lead or contribute to initiatives that support our business and clients. Find Cheryl on LinkedIn.

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