Executive Profiles

Lee Jon Newman – Group Chief Executive Officer

• Lee joined The VPS Group as CEO in March 2018 having held a number of senior positions including:

• Chairman – RSD Group – Sector specialist search & consultancy firm
• CEO of Elliott Group — UK’s leading provider of re-locatable buildings
• Co-founding CEO of ilke Homes, the UK modular house builder
• Managing Director of Wolseley UK Commerical & Industrial division, the largest distribution business in the heating and cooling products industry
• Group Operations Director at HSS Hire, the UK & Ireland’s national supplier of equipment and tool hire

Prior to his corporate life, Lee spent 14 years as an International Athlete representing Wales and Great Britain in Shot Put and Discus throw

Richard Jones – Group Chief Financial Officer 

• Richard joined The VPS Group in July 2018 as UK Finance Director, before being promoted to Chief Financial Officer in January 2019.

• Richard started his career at Alstom before joining Jewson, a building and construction materials supplier, where he held numerous finance roles over the course of thirteen years. 

Richard then joined Wolseley UK — Pipe & Climate Center, the largest distribution business in the heating and cooling products industry, where he was Finance Director, before moving on to Elliot Group, the UK’s leading provider of re-locatable buildings, where he was appointed Chief Financial Officer.

Darron Cavanagh – Chief Operating Officer and UK Head

• Darron joined The VPS Group as the Chief Operating Officer in November 2018. Darron started his career in sales, spending 23 years at HSS Hire, a supplier of equipment and tool hire in UK&I, becoming the company’s Sales Director.
• Darron then moved onto become the Group Sales and Marketing Director of Elliott Group, a leading UK based provider of modular building solutions, and was subsequently appointed to the role of Managing Director.

Suzy Hardman — Group General Counsel

• Suzy joined VPS in March 2016 as Group General Counsel and Company Secretary. In addition to heading up the Group’s Legal team, Suzy is the Executive Sponsor for the Group-wide ESG agenda and her role expanded in January 2020 to be Executive Lead for People.
• Suzy started her career at Allen & Overy, where she qualified into the Banking team and became a Senior Associate before moving in-house to the legal team at Credit Agricole Corporate Investment Bank.

Andy McEwan — Chief of Staff

• Andy joined VPS in April 2018 as the Group Commercial Manager. In October 2018 he was appointed Interim Managing Director for VPS UK for three months, before being promoted to Group Commercial Director. In October 2019 Andy was appointed to the role of Chief of Staff.

Andy started his career at Wolseley UK, the UK’s largest plumbing, heating and cooling trade specialist merchant, holding numerous roles over an eight-year period including Head of Strategy; and Commercial Director, Pipe & Climate Center. He then joined Ashworth, a leading distributor to the Mechanical Services and Process Industries markets, as General Manager and Commercial Director.

Jean-Christophe Chwat —  Europe-South President

• Jean-Christophe joined The VPS Group in March 2013 as Président of VPS France. While serving in this capacity he was responsible for the Guardians business in France achieving certification and has built a reputation as a recognized industry leader.

Prior to The VPS Group, he has held various roles including Marketing Director in charge of strategy and development at De La Rue, the first private banknote printing company; Vice President – EMEA at The Brink’s Company, the world’s largest cash management company; and Président Director General at Neo Security, a 5000 people French security company.

Jeroen van der Poel – Europe-North Managing Director

• Jeroen joined the VPS Group in June 2016 as the Managing Director of VPS Netherlands and was instrumental in the development of the European Guardians business.
• Jeroen held marketing and communications roles before moving into the Security Industry, working for Securicor and G4S, holding senior roles across Marketing and Sales. He joined the Dutch Executive Board of G4S in 2012 as Business Development Director responsible for Sales, Business Development and Acquisitions.

Jeroen holds Masters Degrees in International Relations and Business Administration from the Universities of Utrecht and Bradford.

Paul Lewis — Evander Managing Director

• Paul joined Evander as Managing Director in September 2018 and has led the leadership team to deliver its realignment and subsequent growth over the past two years.
• Paul has previously served as Chief Commercial Officer at Industrial Cleaning Equipment Ltd, the UKs largest independent industrial cleaning equipment specialist.

Paul started his career working in the facilities management sector before joining HSS Hire, the UK & Ireland’s largest national supplier of equipment and tool hire where he held a number of sales and operational roles including Group Sales Director and Managing Director of the group’s cleaning equipment rental division (Reintec).