Support Centre Staff

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Andy Gibbs

Senior Technical Manager, ATT, CTA

Andy joined us from one of the big four accountancy firms where he looked after the affairs of high net worth individuals and private equity executives. Prior to this he worked at a local regional practice where he dealt with the affairs of owner managed businesses and private individuals. Andy has dealt with both tax compliance and tax advisory projects across a range of industry sectors. Andy is a qualified Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) and holds the STEP Advanced Certificate in Trust and Estate Accounting.

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Graham Taylor

Technical Manager CTA

Graham is a qualified Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) with over 30 years’ experience. This has been with accountancy practices ranging from the top 4 to the small regional practice. He has also had a short spell in industry where his experience was used in dealing with UK as well as overseas tax issues for a UK business. He has wide experience dealing with various personal and business taxes including National Insurance. Graham delivers the tax training to new franchisees.

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Philip Youngs, ACCA

Technical Manager, ACCA (Affiliate) and AAT

Philip is a fully qualified AAT and ACCA accountant and has had a career spanning 20 years ranging from practice and industry. His practice experience ranged from small regional practices through to the Top 2 where his primary focus was the preparation of Annual and Management Accounts from incomplete records to completion for small Limited Companies, Sole Traders and Partnerships. This also included VAT returns along with completing Personal and Corporation Tax Returns. Philip joined TaxAssist in 2011 as a Technical Manager providing Technical Support to Franchisees and their staff.

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Samantha Skyring

Technical Manager, ACCA, MAAT

Samantha Skyring qualified in 2013 with a medium sized firm of accountants in Norwich. In the 7 and a half years there, she developed strong relationships with her clients and helped them with bookkeeping, VAT returns, Payroll, Accounts preparation and tax issues. She is both ACCA and MAAT qualified. Sam joined the technical support team in November 2014 as a Technical manager.

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Mike Whiteman

Technical Manager

Mike trained as an ACA accountant with a big four firm in Guernsey, where he worked in the tax department providing advice to a range of corporate clients including major banks and local businesses, as well as high net worth individuals. He moved back to Norwich in 2014 to work for another top 10 practice, taking a more accounts-focused role and specialising in trusts. Mike joined the technical support team in June 2016 as a Technical Manager.

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Rebecca Hollis, Studying AAT

Trainne Technical Officer

Rebecca joined TaxAssist Accountants in 2013, following 18 years working within personal banking and financial services for a major High Street bank.

Having spent three years as part of the Support Centre’s Inbound Team assisting potential clients and delivering qualified leads to the network, Rebecca is now a member of the Technical Team and is studying for her Association of Accounting Technician (AAT) qualifications.

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Simon Hutchinson

Software Training Manager

Simon is responsible for the delivery of the CCH Software training to TaxAssist franchisees and their staff. Prior to joining TaxAssist in 2016, Simon worked for 8 years as an IT Trainer across the Housing and Health industries, and also has experience as an IT Service Delivery Manager and Customer Relationship Manager. Simon has designed courses and trained staff on multiple software implementations and has a keen customer focus to ensure that the right solution is being delivered. Simon will be the main point of contact for any CCH software training or support issues and he will ensure that all franchisees have access to the right information at the right time, and in the right format.

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Allyson Bailey

Software Training Officer

Allyson joined TaxAssist Accountants in December 2016 as Software Training Officer. Prior to this she worked within IT and Software support for 11 years, where she has experience working with a variety of large and small organisations providing support and training for the users, including additional support to customers for new systems implementations. Using this experience Allyson works closely with the Software Training Manager, helping to deliver software training and support for the CCH software to the TaxAssist network.

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Danielle Fish

Marketing Manager, CIM Affiliate Professional

Danielle joined the marketing team in 2006. She was promoted to Marketing Manager in January 2013 and is accustomed to working in an ever evolving environment and adapting to meet new challenges. She works closely with the Business Development Director and Business Development Manager and provides both National and local marketing support, delivers training to our franchisees and their staff, is editor of TaxAssist Accountants Network News (an internal publication to the network) and also provides business premises support to franchisees looking to find a shop.

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Alisha Huckle

Marketing Executive, Award DDM

Alisha joined TaxAssist in 2012 and moved over to the marketing department in February 2015. She works closely with the Marketing Manager to assist with shop front support. She also helps with artwork requests, monthly newsletters, branded cars and a Centralised Marketing scheme.

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Fraser McKay

Communications Manager

After a 20-year career in journalism, Fraser became the highly regarded editor of a leading industry magazine, writing news and features about a number of brands including TaxAssist Accountants.

Having gained further public relations and marketing skills within the NHS in Norfolk and Suffolk, he joined TaxAssist Accountants in May 2016 as Communications Manager. In this role he is helping to increase brand awareness for the network by overseeing media coverage, writing and editing content for print and digital, and managing the company’s social media presence. Fraser will also be using his extensive experience in the media and successfully coaching staff to provide communications training for the network.

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Dave Thomas

Inbound Lead Manager

Dave joined TaxAssist Accountants in June 2015, as a member of the Inbound team. Dave was promoted to Inbound Lead Manager in July 2016, managing a team of 3 Inbound Executives. The team are responsible for speaking with up to 200 enquiries a day.

The team discuss the clients' needs and qualify the lead to their local TaxAssist Accountant. He also works closely with the Business Development Director to ensure all new leads are managed effectively and to work on new initiatives to increase the number and quality of Inbound leads coming through to the support centre via the telephone and our website.

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Terry Hawes

Marketing Trainer, FCIB, M.A. (Hons), ACIB, CMCIPD

Terry joined TaxAssist in 2014. He is a specialist in leadership, marketing, organisational and people development. He began his working career in banking with the Midland Bank progressing through a number of roles in retail and corporate banking marketing, operations and HR to become a Senior Training Manager in the early 1990’s for HSBC. As a consultant for the last twenty years, Terry has worked with a wide range of different clients both in the UK and internationally in many different cultural contexts. He has undertaken a number of significant learning and development assignments, working on business and people developed in emerging and developed nations in the Far and Middle East, Africa and Europe.

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Steve Mack

Franchise Development Manager for England, Wales & Northern Ireland

Steve is a long standing member of staff bringing with him a wealth of business knowledge and experience. Steve has established good relationships with the network, having visited hundreds of franchisees over the last 17 years, helping and advising them on how to effectively and efficiently run their franchise and manage their staff.

Steve has had a varied and interesting career path having initially worked on P&O Cruise Liners as their Crew Purser, travelling the world and living in South Africa. On his return to the UK in 1977 Steve worked for Air UK, before moving into retail and heading an HR Personnel department with 800 staff for 15 years. Steve then started his own HR consultancy, of which TaxAssist Accountants became a client, paving the way for a move into his current role as FDM.

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Phil Jessé

Franchise Development Manager for Scotland

Phil joined TaxAssist in 2015. He has 15 years' commercial experience within a business development and relationship management capacity; creating and driving business growth to increase market share and revenue. His industry experience was gained within the Banking, Commercial Insurance and Financial Services markets with companies such as RBS and Swinton Commercial Insurance. He is a member of the Chartered Insurance Institute having attained qualifications within the Insurance and Financial Services industries.