THE KINGSWAY TEAM
BIOGRAPHY - BOB BATTS
Bob has extensive experience in the brewery sector, having been employed by both Guinness (Diageo) and Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries.
He joined Guinness in 1965 as an apprentice engineer, following his apprenticeship he decided to stay in engineering until 1976, when he was offered a position as a Technical Sales Representative for the company.
In 1978 he moved from Technical Sales Representative to Sales Representative managing the South Wales territory with the added responsibility of looking after two brewery customers, who were contracted to bottle and package Guinness.
He was quickly promoted to deputy Area Manager with responsibility for the induction training of all new recruits.
In 1984 he moved from Guinness to an associated company, Harp Lager, where he was solely responsible for the development of all lager brands, Harp, Kronenbourg and Harp Extra within the club sector in South Wales, where sales were substantially increased over the next two years.
Bob was then asked to return to Guinness in 1986 as Regional Sales Manager within the Midlands & West Sales Region, with the added responsibility for the training and development of all sales staff and technical sales, including induction training at Park Royal, London for all new sales staff.
During 1988 he was asked to become a member of the acquisition team, to look at and make recommendations to the board with regards to the sales and management operation of two breweries in South Wales.
In 1992 he joined the sales team of Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries as Regional Sales Manager, but due to his training experience, was very quickly asked to move into the position of People Development Manager with the responsibility for the development and delivery of all sales and management training programmes, for Free Trade Sales, Take Home and National Accounts.
In 1993 /94 he coached and assisted the first person within the company, to gain the prestigious National Training Award.
During his time with Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries he was asked on three occasions to join the integration team following the takeover of the Marston’s Brewery, Mansfield Brewery and the Jennings Brewery.
In 2007 he decided to pursue a career as an independent Management Training Consultant and he joined Kingsway Training Limited as a Brewery Course Director.
Bob is married with one daughter and lives in Shropshire, where he enjoys his sport of marathon canoe racing.
