Who We Are

Gordon Baisley — Chief Executive Officer

Before founding Quast, Gordon’s previous four roles involved leading large QA and Test functions at major technology-focused organisations. This included leading the Test functions for EE and Eircom, the UK and Ireland’s largest Telecommunications companies respectively, as well as being Director of Quality Assurance at IFDS, the UK’s leading Fund Administrator, as it launched new business lines for Wealth Management and Retirement and Insurance Solutions.

Common to all these roles were significant structural transformation within the companies, which meant that their QA and Testing requirements needing restructuring as well. As result, Gordon has developed a specialisation in designing systems that meet an organisation’s changing requirements, delivering change and building high performing teams to deliver on current and future requirements. His success in building a great management team at IFDS was recognised when he and his management team won Best Test Management Team at The European Software Testing Awards (TESTA) in October 2014.

In founding Quast, Gordon is looking to bring the same qualities to his clients as he did when working in-house, helping businesses build best in class QA and Test functions to fit their needs.

Our Advisory Board

As a young company we greatly value the experience and advice of senior leaders across the range of business disciplines we encounter. We are delighted to have assembled a very high calibre advisory board to give us structured and regular input on the opportunities and decisions we are presented with.

Stephen Carpenter — Marketing

Stephen has been Executive Creative Director for iUVO Design Ltd since 2004. He assists companies both in the UK and internationally with a broad range of marketing functions for the digital sector including: Design, User Experience and Integrated Strategy, Brand Creation and Development, Graphic Design, On/Offline Marketing and Social Media strategy and eCommerce.

Prior to founding iUVO Stephen worked as a freelance designer and consultant at some of the leading companies in the industry including Saatchi & Saatchi, McCann, Finlayson Design, Anderson Norton Design and Syzygy. He has also worked for many start ups and global companies, including Kashflow, Coca-Cola, Stella McCartney, adidas, Aston Martin, Vauxhall, Playstation and BT.

Matthew Redding — Legal

Matthew is currently at EE where he is legal director for Corporate and Business, leading a large team of lawyers.

The telecoms industry has undergone major changes in the last few years, and Matthew has helped shape it. Matthew set up MBNL, the mobile network JV between EE and Three, acted as its first legal director, and now sits on its board of directors. Matthew has had key roles in the merger of Orange with T-Mobile to create EE, the launch of 4G in the UK (Europe’s fastest 4G rollout), and EE’s most recent corporate activities.

Darren Jordan — Finance

Darren is currently a Partner at Kingston Smith, Chartered Accountants.

Darren brings extensive experience with technology companies providing forward looking and pro-active advice.  He enjoys working with business owners & managers who have high aspirations and demanding entrepreneurs.

Rebecca Lonsdale — Procurement

Rebecca has been the Director of GB and Ireland Procurement at Britvic Soft Drinks since 2014.

She completed her Business Management in 1997 and started her journey with Nissan Europe, starting on the graduate scheme as controller in 1997 and later became the Regional Supplier Performance Manager in 2002, based in Paris, working for Renault Nissan Purchasing Organisation (RNPO). She joined Britvic Soft Drinks in 2004 as a purchasing manager and later was promoted to Director of GB and Ireland Procurement. A role which means she is responsible for over £500m of spend across all areas of the business. She has a vast experience in business and has acquired expertise in Global Sourcing, Supply Management, Strategic Sourcing, Procurement, FMCG, Supply Chain, eSourcing, E-procurement Supply Chain Management, Sourcing, SAP Negotiation, Purchasing, Logistics Lean Manufacturing, Outsourcing Spend Analysis, and Forecasting Contract Negotiation.

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