The Management Team
The Volunteers that Steer the Chamber
Harrogate District Chamber is run by a Management Group – a team of members who have volunteered to help steer the Chamber. They are all business owners and managers, and come from a wide range of business sectors.
If you ever have a query about the Chamber while you are at a meeting, you can speak to any of the Management Group members about it. They are often close to the 'welcome desk' – or just ask someone on the welcome desk to point you in the right direction.
Martin Mann
Chief Executive
Martin is happy to support businesses on everything from one-off projects to long-term IT management. He particularly specialises in building relationships with businesses, allowing him to understand their needs and priorities and work proactively to suggest and introduce improvements. His friendly, supportive advice has earned him many loyal customers who have relied on his help for many years.
Phill Holdsworth
President
Phill launched AurumGold in 2017 to help businesses improve the wellbeing of their workforce. With twenty-five years’ experience within the finance industry, Phill soon found he was being asked on a regular basis to address the financial wellbeing of employees.
AurumGold’s service has been sort by a wide array of organisations such as county councils, family law firms, care and residential homes, colleges, government departments and companies in manufacturing, IT and Finance. Wherever people are employed there will inevitably be money worries of some kind and Phill feels privileged to support businesses improve their employee's financial wellbeing.
Phill also hosts the Wisdom Chat Podcast and Co-Hosts the Wisdom Chat Plus Podcast with Rachel Surtees, the Rambling Psychoterapist. Both podcasts talk about money and wellbeing with expert guests and are live on all podcast platforms.
Executive Officers
Sam Oakes
Vice President + Membership Secretary
Web Design, Graphic Design and Photography. I build beautiful, functional websites for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Our style is to produce fresh, creative design solutions for businesses who want to market themselves online and with print.
Jackie Snape
Vice President
I have worked for many years in health and social care and the voluntary sector and feel extremely fortunate to hold the position of Chief Executive at Disability Action Yorkshire which is a charity working with disabled people.
I am passionate about the role and contribution of the voluntary sector in our local community and hold several voluntary positions including Chair of Harrogate Town AFC Community Foundation
Vicky Findlow
Vice President
Vicky came to Harrogate over 30 years ago and has been developing her business network here ever since. She is passionate about local businesses and loves introducing like-minded people to each other for the good of the community.
John Garbutt
Honorary Treasurer
John joined DSC Chartered Accountants in 2003 after graduating with an Honours degree in Economics at Durham a year earlier, and then travelling around the world. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2006 and following promotion to associate in 2010 became a director of DSC in April 2011. With a diverse range of clients, from medium size manufacturers to small service companies, and a wide range of expertise - John is able to offer the appropriate tax and planning advice on a corporate level and on a personal level too.
Management Group Members
Tara Stagman
Moving from a career in banking, Tara joined local independent wine merchants, Ake & Humphris, as their finance director soon after they opened in Harrogate and Collingham in 2010. With an accountancy background and a love of wine, she has found her perfect job! Supplying both retail and wholesale customers, she and the team at Ake & Humphris have a passion for good quality, enjoyable wines with a clear focus on “what’s in the glass” that aims to put Harrogate firmly on the map as a destination for a better quality of wine.
She enjoys working with other independent businesses and local charities for the good of the local community and has been an active member of the Harrogate Chamber of Commerce since 2012.
Martin Taylor
Martin Taylor is a southerner who moved to Yorkshire in 1984 and liked it so much he stayed.
He has a 30 plus year career in the telecoms industry, having worked for several corporate companies including BT, Racal, Marconi, COLT and KCom. When he started there were no mobile phones, no internet, no wifi and no broadband.
Martin has been a shareholder and director of Xi Communications Ltd for seven years. And along with colleague, Tony Mellor, they provide the latest telecoms technology to local businesses. In 2020, they set up a second company, 3R Call Management Ltd, which provides a call handling service to local businesses.
He also a trustee for local charity, Supporting Older People.
Sarah Darbyshire
Born and bred in Yorkshire, Sarah has worked in Human Resources since 1995. Her corporate career was in the professional services, financial services, healthcare, utilities and IT sectors. She established HR Solutions Yorkshire Limited in 2016 to provide down to earth, solution focused and commercial HR advice to business owners, leaders and managers across all sectors.
A generalist by background, her focus is now on HR strategy, managing business change, employee relations, and management development. Sarah is also an approved MHFA England instructor who delivers Adult Mental Health First Aid qualifications.
Andrew Joy
Harrogate has been Andrew's home since 2005 and he has been involved in the local business community since July 2021 as an ActionCOACH Business Coach. Previous to that he has a strong background in sales and was a Sales Director for a global pest control firm for 9 years prior to joining ActionCOACH.
Andrew is passionate about helping local Harrogate business owners improve the results in their business. He brings his prior knowledge and the ActionCOACH system to achieve outstanding results for his clients.
Ian Howard
Ian runs Business Doctors in North Yorkshire and Teeside, advising SMEs, especially mid-market and larger businesses. Previously, he led risk management at EY's Financial Services for 14 years, handling high-profile risk issues, banking resolutions, and international investigations. Ian is a non-executive director and Risk and Audit Committee Chair for Inclusion Housing, a major UK provider of specialist social housing.
Ian was born in Yorkshire and lives and works in central Harrogate.