About
Professionally
I am an insurance broker and have run a successful niche insurance business since 2007 now based in Maidstone. I employ 18 full time staff based here in the UK and 1 in Malta. The business provides insurance products in the UK and across the EU.
I joined the industry in 1984 working in the City of London until 2000 when I went it alone and provided services for the industry until 2004 when a partner and I purchased a travel insurance broker at the start of the online revolution.
Family
I am very lucky to be married to Rita who I met in 1998. We moved to Medway in 2000. We have bought up three children living first on St Mary’s Island and since 2007 in Hempstead.
Rita is an HR professional having worked at a senior level in various NHS organisations in and around Medway and is a Trustee of a local Multi-Academy Trust.
My Background
Born in South East London I lived for the first four years of my life in rented accommodation Brixton before we moved to Grove Park in 1970. Attending Marvels Lane primary School and then the London Nautical School before leaving to join the insurance industry in 1984.
My parents were “strivers” who worked hard in multiple jobs in order to buy their own home and to provide the very best for their children in difficult circumstances.
I have lived in South East London, Suffolk and Medway.
Politics & Community
I was first elected to serve as a Councillor for the St Mildred Ward in the London Borough of Lewisham in 1990 where I served two terms. I have campaigned for a number of MPs including Tim Yeo in South Suffolk, Colin Moynihan in Lewisham East and Rehman Chishti here in Gillingham & Rainham.
I returned to local politics in 2019 standing as the candidate for Watling Ward, an election which I lost. I stood as the candidate for Hempstead & Wigmore on 2023 in which I was successful.
In 2015 I became a School Governor of a primary school in Medway. That school joined a Multi-Academy Trust in 2017 and I joined the Trust Board in 2023. I am currently the Chair of Trustees. The Trust has four primary schools in Medway which I visit on a regular basis.