Meet our leadership team

Responsible for onboarding new clients and managing relationships with existing ones

Kim is an experienced all-rounder in contact centre operations, with over 18 years’ experience. After 8 years working for the biggest telecommunications retailer in the UK, she entered the SA BPO world in 2017 as a client relationship manager, before rising to head of operations. Kim joined Sigma in 2020 where, in her first year alone, she successfully onboarded three clients into South Africa and managed multiple transitions from the UK into Cape Town. Outside of work, she’s a mother of two and a keen camper who loves the outdoors.

Lesley has over 30 years CX & Call Centre management experience across financial services, utilities and retail and has had the pleasure of working with some very well-known brands across the sectors. Lesley has recently joined the world of BPO and is passionate about bringing her knowledge and expertise for the benefit of our partners working together to deliver the best possible outcomes. In her spare time, Lesley loves to cook, travel, socialise with friends and spend as much quality family time as possible.

Ensuring current clients are happy – and building relationships with new ones.

Mark is a recognised industry expert, with 25+ years’ experience across the whole debt cycle, from pre to post litigation collections. Having owned an award-winning DCA and with a track record of growing DCAs, he’s skilled in identifying commercial challenges, providing cost-effective solutions and succeeding on niche portfolios where others have failed. He’s known for always delivering on his promise and building long term client relationships, based on trust, honesty and transparency. Mark is a family man and keen golfer, who enjoys a nice glass of wine with family, friends and colleagues.

Passionate about tech, he’s responsible for ensuring a robust, well-managed, and secure IT infrastructure.

Daniel has worked in the IT industry for over 15 years, across the outsourcing, finance, and utilities sectors. His knowledge of IT networking, Cloud, and server infrastructure is second to none, as is his passion for new technologies and their ability to make positive change. He’s equally experienced with people management as he is with technical management of £multi-million IT and Cloud projects, having built and grown multi-regional high performing IT teams.

Supporting the business with sector specific knowledge and understanding

Before joining Sigma in July 2020, Will spent 25 years in customer operations. In his time working at Thames Water, Southern Water, and Good Energy, he also looked after third-party service providers. And, through working closely with outsourcers, he knows first-hand all the things they could do better – knowledge he uses to ensure Sigma is different. With his immense experience, Will understands the end-to-end nuts and bolts of utilities operations, how they link to company performance, and what to do to fix any issues. Outside of work his passions are Everton Football Club and his dogs – and he’s confessed to seeing the musical ‘Joseph and His Technicolor Dreamcoat’ about 50 times!

Supporting the business with sector-specific knowledge and understanding

Alex has over 10 years’ experience in the BPO and tech sectors, leading delivery in strategy and solution architecture. He has a strong background in data architecture, analytics, and governance, cloud strategy, RPA, and machine learning. At Sigma, he’s built multiple analytics functions, bringing data engineers and analysts together with subject matter experts, for a real-world, tangible impact. His expertise in building and deploying complex data infrastructure has successfully reduced costs for the business and complexity for users.

“The power of empathy is the biggest unused opportunity in creating a customer experience that customers will find worthy of their loyalty.”

Peter joined Sigma in 2022, with a long history in customer service and customer experience – and a strong track record in change within large commercial operations. His appointment as CSO marks Sigma’s ambition to grow into new markets, industries and in the development of digital transformation services.

Peter devotes most of his energy in the job elevating the human element and the power of the human connection in customer service and CX. And truly believes that Sigma is different when it comes to how much we value the human centric approach.

Peter hails from The Netherlands, spent 3 years in Greece and settled in the UK in 2015 with his wife and 2 children. In his spare time, he’s an ultra-marathon runner.

Developing and delivering highly successful people strategies across the UK and South Africa

Scott is a highly experienced HR leader, after 18 years in both outsourced and insourced solutions across a huge variety of sectors. Having led TUPE, redundancy and organisational restructure processes across UK and South Africa, and living in South Africa for two years, he has an in-depth understanding of the labour market, legislation, and employee landscape in both countries. Scott is highly skilled in leading large scale, multi-geography recruitment ramps during peak seasons, as well as increasing employee engagement, retention and attendance.

Justus qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2000 after which he spent 5 years in the UK at PwC largely focusing on multi-national technology companies. He then went on to work for PwC in New York City, returning to his native South Africa in 2008.

Justus joined the Digicall Group in 2009 and since moved up the ranks within the group and taken on financial responsibility for Sigma Connected South Africa.

Justus overseas all the financial reporting for Sigma’s Cape Town business as well as having responsibility for all Sigma’s South African real estate.

Responsible for the UK operation and overall delivery of service

Richard brings 22 years’ contact centre industry experience – 15 in credit, collections and debt, and 7 in BPO. Having started on the phones, he went on to work across front and back office, through contact strategy, change management and business transformation, before settling back into Operations. His passion comes from the supportive culture at Sigma – seeing and helping people grow and express their potential. Out of work, you’ll find him on a golf course, walking the dog, at the mighty Anfield, or taxiing his daughter around.

With over 20 years’ experience in IT across a range of industries, from start-ups to large enterprises, Ian’s roles have spanned all aspects of technology, architecture and strategy. Ian comes with a degree in Physics and Electronics and a PhD in semiconductor technology.

He specialises in enabling business process and innovation through effective use of technology. He also has a strong technical background including security, networking, infrastructure operations, datacentre design and software development.

Gary is a founding member of Sigma since setting up the business with Mike Harfield in 2011. Gary has been the CEO for 3 years and takes the lead with external relationships and investor strategy.

Gary has over 25 years’ experience running large contact centres across the UK and in South Africa with a specialism in early arrears and debt collection. Over the last 14 years he has worked with the majority of the Energy Big 6. Gary remains very active with all Sigma’s client engagements and continues to lead on new business opportunities for the group.

Passionate and driven digital marketing and communications professional

Jenny has worked in B2B marketing across the BPO and tech sectors for over 25 years. During that time, she’s gained extensive experience in building brands, as well as establishing and transforming marketing functions. Jenny has played an active role in many corporate acquisitions, successfully onboarding both brands and people. Always keen to support the career development of others, Jenny has mentored many colleagues in their career progression. A lover of the great outdoors, at weekends you’ll find her walking with her dog Lola or tending veggies in her allotment.

“I have no interest in recreating what other businesses are doing. We want to do something different, better, something with soul.”

Co-founder of Sigma Connected, Mike is the yin to fellow co-founder Gary Gilburd’s yang. Gary was a client of Mike’s and they soon realised their different skills and outlook complemented each other perfectly.

With more than 20 years’ industry experience, Mike is ultimately responsible for Sigma’s operational development and strategy. But it’s his training aged 15 at the Bollettieri Tennis Academy, that he credits for giving him a serious work ethic, and a firm belief in giving things a shot. Mike is passionate about giving everyone an opportunity to either take the next step in their career, or the first step – and to do it right.

His spare time is spent mostly with his kids – 2 boys and a girl

Founder of Sigma’s award-winning ReachOut service to help customers with problem debt.

Sarah joined us after 20+ years with a Big 6 provider. Here at Sigma, she’s led some of our biggest initiatives, from the design and implementation of our new DCA brand McLaren Credit Services, to the concept and creation of Sigma’s ReachOut service, for customers struggling with debt. Sarah is known for being an extremely empathetic leader and for her uncanny knack of finding solutions, even when all seems lost! Away from work, she loves walking her dog Thistle, travelling, and is an avid reader.

Pragmatic, outcome focussed governance leader safeguarding Sigma, it’s clients, and their customers.

Pete joined Sigma having led risk and compliance teams for a well-known insurer for ten years. With a clear remit, he got stuck in straight away, refreshing and embedding a new compliance framework that spans multiple sectors and jurisdictions, embodying Sigma’s values and plans for growth. Under his guidance, Sigma also established a new risk framework, encompassing every aspect and layer of our business, from customer to boardroom. In his spare time, Pete will be with his family (and dogs) up a hill, in a forest, or enjoying a bottle of wine with friends.

Ben has 20 years’ experience in Board Director and NED roles across Retail Utilities and BPO across both large corporate and private companies.

Prior to joining Sigma in 2019 Ben was trouble shooting in the Energy sector, supporting turn around and new start ups.

Within the Sigma Connected Group Ben has day to day responsibility for Sales, Marketing, Client Services and PMO across the entire Sigma Connected Group which include the UK, South Africa and Australia.

Highly experienced in operations, collections and credit management in the regulated financial services industry

Stephen has spent over 20 years in collections and recoveries – within the FCA debt recovery, banking, telco and public sector – managing internal and external strategies, third party clients and DCAs . Over the years he has become highly skilled in building relationships to secure customer retention, optimising business potential through a culture of continuous improvement, meeting challenging objectives, increasing margins and managing change. In his spare time Stephen likes to be outdoors, whether it’s running, cycling, or dragging his dog up and down the Munros in Scotland.

Andrew was appointed CFO in April 2015, assuming responsibility for the strategic financial management of the group. Prior to this, Andrew spent 3 years as Head of Finance where he had day to day oversight of the finance function and successfully built out the operational finance platform.

Before joining Sigma, he spent eight years with HomeServe in a number of UK Group roles. He is also a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland.

Emma is an experienced senior commercial lawyer and joined us having held senior roles in both private practice and In-House. With a wealth of financial services, FinTech, digital and insurance industry experience and knowledge, Emma leads our Legal function to deliver fully integrated commercial solutions across the business. She creates and implements clear legal infrastructure, supporting and securing stakeholder trust and approvals. Outside of work, Emma enjoys spending time with her son and travelling. She is also an avid reader and Irish rugby supporter.

Colin has 30 years’ experience in financial services with specialisms in collections and recoveries operations, analytics and strategy development, supplier management, and credit and operational risk.

Before joining Sigma in 2022, Colin held a variety of senior roles across a number of financial institutions. Most recently as head of supplier management with Nationwide Building Society, responsible for collections and recoveries outsource and insource supplier panels.

Away from work, Colin enjoys spending time with his three sons, playing golf, watching pretty much any sport, and is a keen guitarist.

Suzanne joined us after 12 years with HomeServe and has previously worked in a variety of businesses from training at KPMG, to shopfitting and furniture manufacturers, a charity for children with severe autism and the RAC. She is a very easy going person and willing to turn her hand to whatever is needed. Suzanne is also very approachable, so never be afraid to ask! Outside of work she loves walking and spending time with friends and family.

Passionate about nurturing careers and continuous learning and improvement

Since joining Sigma in 2012, Yasmin has used her extensive experience to steadily build the L&D department, alongside Sigma’s growth plans. She works with external and internal stakeholders to design bespoke learning initiatives, then continues to monitor them to ensure they’re still delivering to clients and their customer. A keen advocate for internal promotion and progression, Yasmin has mentored many people to take on more senior roles. And she practices what she preaches, always developing her own knowledge of the latest learning technology and techniques.

Driving process improvement and finance transformation through analysis and insight

A qualified accountant, Rohit has over 23 years’ experience under his belt, across many and varied sectors including contract catering, logistics, marketing, FMCG and financial services. Expert in establishing collaborative teams and transforming finance processes, he works alongside business leaders to create best in class finance functions – onshore and offshore. Always looking to support the career development of others, he’s mentored many people to help shape their career path. Outside of the workplace you will find Rohit coaching children’s rugby / cricket or taxiing one of his two children to hockey or tennis lessons.

Experienced leader who understands the success of every operation is based on the quality and drive of the team that delivers its

Bevin’s call centre journey began over 20 years ago – and the majority of that time has been spent working across the outsourcing market. In his current role, he’s committed to enabling client success through great service and meaningful engagement. He has a strong understanding of local cultures, which helps the business adapt to different markets, nurturing and developing his team to deliver the best in customer service delivery globally.

Here to help find solutions for your customer service challenges

With 20 years’ experience in energy retail and 10 years in the water industry, Rob has extensive utilities knowledge across customer service operations, billing, collections, settlements and acquisition, both onshore and offshore. As Director of Operations at npower, he was responsible for the overall customer journey and led a transformation driving cost reductions and fixing pain points for customers. Since joining us in 2021, he’s been working with energy companies to provide outsource services – from sales to acquisition, right through to collections – and everything in between.

Supporting the growth of UK companies with outsourced solutions across global locations

Jordan has over 15 years’ experience in a variety of director level roles, but his BPO journey began when he moved to South Africa in 2015, overseeing business development for an insurance outsourcer. Shortly after returning to the UK in 2021, he joined Sigma, where he’s responsible for driving new business across our sectors and winning new clients to complement our portfolio. Jordan considers South Africa his second home and is keen to support job creation through our SA operations. Outside of work, he spends time with his children, loves running, and has a big interest in property investment.

Responsible for ensuring Sigma has the right resource, in the right place, at the right time

An accomplished planning resource leader, Simon brings over 15 years’ experience from previous roles at Barclaycard, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and Centrica. His expertise spans the full planning cycle across the telecoms, utilities, retail, higher education and financial sectors. Simon’s collaborative and inclusive approach has not only successfully established resource planning functions, but changed perceptions of ‘Planning’ and its importance within several organisations. Outside of work, Simon’s time is devoted to his family and watching as much sport as possible.

Facilitating business change through the consistent delivery of programmes and projects

After 20 years growing his career at IHG, Mark joined Sigma in 2018 to manage delivery of a transition project for one of Sigma’s Big Six Energy clients. Several successful projects on, including technology migrations and implementations, he was appointed PMO Manager, then Head of Projects and Programmes in 2021. Mark currently oversees Sigma’s portfolio of projects and programmes, to fully establish and continually improve Sigma’s PMO function. In his spare time, he volunteers with Inspiring the Future, a charity that helps inspire young people’s career path.

Making sure we deliver the best service and experience to our clients

Joanna has over 20 years’ experience within Operations and is Prince 2 qualified in Project Management. In 2019, she led the setup of our client services department, responsible for the smooth onboarding of clients, and a fruitful ongoing relationship, based on continuous improvement. She also set up our first UK white label contract into our Cape Town Operation, managing an operation of over 200 FTE. Since heading up client services and implementation, Joanna has successfully onboarded over 25 clients into the business. Outside of work Joanna is a mother of 2 and loves spending time with her family and friends. She is also a keen cook and loves experimenting in the kitchen.

Susan has worked in the financial services industry for more than 25 years, holding senior positions within a global insurance brokerage, leading successful sales and customer service businesses across the UK. Hugely passionate about equality and inclusion, developing winning teams and mentoring the next generation of authentic leaders.

Susan lives with her husband Colin and two children in beautiful Ayrshire, where she enjoys walking and talking, being the family manager, interior design and country music.