BJA - Who We Are - Successful Operators Who Can Make a Difference

Why use BJA?

Within the tourism and leisure sector BJA are a unique and specialist management consultancy that focus with organisations on 'delivering more with less.' The consultants personal experience as very successful senior managers and directors of operations of some of the UK's most prestigious attractions and institutions as well as their background in managing smaller venues makes them uniquely placed to support clients who want to transform their business and re-energise the customer experience. Prior to setting up the consultancy they have all been involved with bringing about or leading cultural change and turning around the performance of the business.

Their own backgrounds are a comprehensive mix of working in the public, private and charitable sector. This has been followed through in the range of clients they have attracted from across these sectors. What also makes BJA unique is that they are still practising senior managers with some of the UK's highest profile attractions and are still very much involved in transforming the business of existing operations.

Bryn Jones

Prince 2 Practitioner

'We have real passion and belief in what we do and a commitment to ensuring our clients achieve their goals.'

Bryn Jones is the Founding Director of BJA and has a wide range of experience in running visitor, tourist and leisure operations of various sizes from community level to world class venues. Bryn has improved the financial performance of all the operations he has been involved with.

As the Head of Visitor Services at the Science Museum in London, he was an integral part of the management team that turned around the operation in the 1990s to become known as setting the benchmark for customer service within the heritage industry. It was during this period the Museum won the ETB's 'Visitor Attraction of the Year Award,' two customer charter marks, the Design Week Annual Awards and he improved the commercial performance of the areas he led by over 60%. Bryn went onto project lead all the commercial and customer service elements of the Wellcome Wing, a £50m extension to the Science Museum.

Bryn then became the Commercial Director of the Lowry Centre in Greater Manchester. The Lowry Centre was National Millennium Landmark project for the arts costing nearly £100m and was a major performing arts venue as well as holding the LS Lowry Collection and major conference and exhibiton spaces. He was part of a new senior management team that was brought in to turn the operation around. Within eighteen months he had improved the bottom line of the operation by over £500k.

Bryn was approached and went on to become the Commercial Director of the Alnwick Garden where he led the management and operation of the £45m Garden through key stages of this development in Northumberland, including the set up and launch of the £3.3m world's largest tree house, including a 100 cover indoor restaurant, and the commercial and visitor management strategies behind the £12m visitor centre and pavilion.

Prior to the Science Museum Bryn had an outstanding track record in sport and leisure management. His most notable achievements included as the Leisure Contracts Manager for Swansea Leisure Services turning around the in-house operation and improving the bottom line by over £500k in twelve months and winning the leisure management contract against strong private competition, in a period before TUPE regulations applied.

Prior to this Bryn spent a long period in a variety of management roles for York Leisure Services setting up and managing leisure and community centres. Following a sabbatical year taking a Masters Degree in the USA he returned to York and became a part of the department's senior management team leading community recreation and leisure strategy. With the coming of Compulsory Competitive Tendering he then focused on working on the client side preparing the management contracts for three indoor swimming pools and what was the new £10m Barbican entertainment and sports complex. During this period he was integral to the department and its facilities winning several major regional and national sports management awards.

Bryn's qualifications and experience includes:

A registered Prince 2 Practitioner
A Masters Degree in Commercial Sport Administration from Kent State University, Ohio
A BA Hons degree in Leisure Management from St John's College. York
Attended the Disney Quality Management Training Course in 'Disney World' Florida
A Companion Member of the Institute of Customer Service
Corporate Member of the Museums Association
Chairman of the North of England Division of a national sporting governing body

Digby Trout

From it's founding in 1987 Digby was the creative force and leader of digby trout Restaurants (de Blank Restaurants for the first 5 years). Digby sold his majority share holding in the company in 2002. He remained as chairman and was actively involved in the company until recently.

dtR was the market leader in concession catering at museums, art galleries, performance venues, historic buildings, heritage sites and selected department stores.

The company worked with diverse clients across the UK to provide outstanding cafes, restaurants and events.

Those clients included:

British Museum	National Museums of Wales	Sadler's Wells
National Gallery	Ashmolean Museum	St John's Smith Square
Barbican Centre	Dulwich Picture Gallery	Tussauds Group
Science Museum	Historic Scotland	Habitat
Natural History Museum	Royal Shakespeare Company	Liberty
Historic Royal Palaces	Royal Court	Heals
London Zoo	Southwalk Cathedral

Digby has unrivaled experience of creating and operating many styles of catering for different groups of visitors and audiences. formally trained in hotel management his career started with Forte before joining forces with his mentor Justin de Blank to revolutionise museum catering. He has always had a real passion for food and service long before it was used as an overworked catch phrase by corporate caterers.

Graham Stratfold

'I like to think we understand where our clients are coming from and that we can help them to find the strategies and ways to solve the problems they face.'

Graham has been with BJA since it started. As well as working for BJA, Graham also works part time as the Head of Visitor Services for the Museum of London Group, which includes both the Museum of London and the Museum in Docklands. Graham has been integral to establishing much more of a commercial and customer service culture and leading all elements of the visitor experience in terms of day to day delivery and strategically in terms of the way the service is being taken forward across both museums including major capital projects looking at the front of house, customer service, operational and commercial aspects.

Prior to this he was the Head of Visitor Services at the National Railway Museum in York for eleven years where he generated a £4.6m net profit, excluding admissions. He set up and ran the highly successful Flying Scotsman train service and was an integral part of the management team that led the Museum to win the 'European Museum of the Year Award in 2001.'

For two of these years Graham was the Head of Visitor Services for both the National Railway Museum and the National Museum of Photography Film & Television.

Prior to this he worked in sports and leisure management including being the Project Manager for the Barbican Entertainments Complex in York, the CCT Project Manager and Contract Manager for York Leisure Services. Within eighteen months of opening, as the Manager of Oaklands Sport Centre in York, a dual use centre, he led the team to become joint runner up of the 'UK's Sports Management of the Year Award.

Graham's original background and training was in Hotel and Catering.

Jacqueline Naylor

Jacqueline has an outstanding track record of success in the events and hospitality industry as an operator, a senior manager and as a director. She is highly experienced in sales, marketing and management within the hospitality industry. She has spent thirteen years working in four star hotels and a National Museum. Jacqui believes passionately in delivering quality; her approach and the strategies that she develops for our clients gives them real confidence as to how they can achieve their goals.

Her most relevant experience within the industry included being the Head of Corporate Events for the National Railway Museum in York for five years where she led and increased the business from £140k to £1m. As a result this part of the business went from making a loss to being an extremely important financial contributor to the Museum. Under Jacqui's leadership, the conference department received the White Rose Award for Tourism Conference Venue of the Year in 2001 and 2004. As the Head of the Department she developed an excellent sales and events team who were highly motivated to ensure demanding targets were exceeded every time.

During this time she also launched conferences and events at what was the new Locomotion Museum in County Durham. She developed and implemented a sound marketing and sales strategy which led to a positive start to the business.

Jacqui then went on to become the Director of Sales for the Marriott Hotel Group in York where she increased the hotels market share by 15% and increased the wedding business by 100%. As an executive member of the hotel team she was directly involved in the business strategy and implementation of plans for improvement and change. She had total responsibility for marketing and PR of the hotel as well as the development and execution of sales training. The hotel won conference venue of the year for three consecutive years as well as employer and hotel of the year in 2009.

Graham Bancroft

Graham is an exceptional retailer with an exceptional track record. He provides practical, pragmatic support across a broad range of retail issues including shop design and layout, retail strategy, business planning, product range development and management systems. He has real, direct experience of over 200 retail projects working with a wide variety of museums, cat

hedrals, art galleries and tourist information centres.

These retail projects have included development of new shops from the planning stage to a fully operational unit, as well as work with existing shops to improve key areas of their business.

Graham has worked within the retail environment, particularly in themed venues, for over 22 years and is well known for his realistic advice and 'hand's on' assistance. His clients have varied from York Minster to the National Museum of Science & Industry, which includes The Science Museum in London, The National Railway Museum, York and the National Media Museum, Bradford. Where required Graham is able to work closely with the client's existing retail teams so that they retain 'ownership' of projects as they develop.

Typical feedback about Graham's work includes:

'Graham's help and advice in all areas from sourcing shop stock, shop fitters, an Epos system and merchandising was outstanding. His 'hand's on' and friendly relaxed approach put us all at ease. Since we have opened we have had many complimentary comments from our visitors.

Mark Kelly

Mark has an exceptional track record with website development and online retailing. He provides advice and guidance on:

Website usability and ways to improve content
How to utilise on-line auction sites effectively to increase potential customer base
Guidance on best practice; payment integration; tips on legal aspects of online trading e.g. T&C's
Effective design and artwork to illustrate creative concepts
Natural Search Engine Optimisation

Mark has a vast range of experience from providing consultancy and advise to organisations ranging from York Minster to the Florence Nightingale Museum.

Prior to being self employed Mark used to be the Commercial Media Officer for the Royal Armouries Museum and his other previous work included being a Web Designer / Account Manager for print and online media; a print and advertising designer for Kelly Graphics and prior to this as a Finished Artist.

Mark's work includes from the start up of new businesses to working with established businesses, he has strong planning and organisational skills and has excellent communication and interpersonal skills at all levels.

Stuart Graham

Stuart specialises in supporting and enabling heritage and leisure organisations with their quest to deliver excellent customer service. During the past twenty years he has built up a deep understanding of the issues surrounding operational, management and customer service development and designs and delivers training programmes that have been specifcally designed to work with this sector.

He has developed particularly strong links with museums and galleries from major nationals to small independent operators. This means that he is experienced in the complex relationship and multiple objectives of arts, historical and educational institutions, which are also vitally dependent on welcoming and servicing a wide range of customers. His recent clients include: The Royal Festival Hall, the Museum of London Group, Tate Modern and Britain, Sandown Park, Somerset House, The Royal Albert Hall and The National Trust.

John Moran

Prior to BJA, John had his own busines consultancy providing support to a range of businesses including visitor attractions. Most recently John completed a major review of York University's sports provision. He was then retained to complete further related work including providing interim general management, becoming an integral part of the organisation driving the change needed while also reviewing staffing structures, budgeting and financial management, membership schemes, sports programming and development.

John is a former Chief Officer and Head of Leisure and Recreation for the East Riding of Yorkshire Council leading nine diverse areas including, education, libraries and leisure including golf courses, parks and open spaces, sports facilities, children's play and countryside recreation.

John's other experience included being the General Manager of the 'Leisure Services Organisation,' leading the leisure management contract for Beverley Borough Council, which included five sports and leisure centres. John brought much more of a commercial and customer focus turning the operation around to deliver an increasing trading surplus in each year of the contract.

Prior to this John was the Principal Recreation Officer for York City Council. John was instrumental in transforming the City's leisure provision including indoor swimming provision, building and developing new venues from small community recreation centres to the £10m Barbican entertainments complex. During this period he increased swimming pool attendances by 250,000, won regional and national management awards and significantly improved the financial performance of the City's leisure provision.