Jan is delighted to be associated with Steve, with whom he has worked closely for ten years, initially as a consultant to NUS, and subsequently as a collaborative specialist consultant.

Jan is the founder of Greenhouse, which specialises in organisational and business development, and is made up individuals with many years of experience at Board and senior management level. Greenhouse provides support services within the charity, education, health, and public sectors, as well as commercial start-ups, and its clients benefit from our strategic as well as operational expertise.

Within the Greenhouse team Jan is the specialist focussing on organisational, commercial, and business strategy within the charity and education sectors. His career started as the Events Officer at the University of Manchester Students’ Union, before progressing to Commercial Manager at Cardiff University Students’ Union.

His career has included turning around poorly performing divisions within Whitbread plc and he has held four directorships in the leisure sector, including founding and running a highly successful leisure business for nine years, before founding Greenhouse in 2008 to assist the strategic development of organisations. He has also been a lay trustee at the University of Manchester Students’ Union for six years.
Greenhouse supports many charities and students’ unions, relying on our proven and practical experience of trading operations in the high street, charity sector, considerable input into strategic development within the sector, and ability to work effectively within a students’ organisation/charity setting, which includes:

• Relevant experience in working with over 80 students’ unions and associations across the UK, involving interactions with officers, senior managers, external and student trustees, students, staff, and senior executives across institutions which have required insight, tact and the ability to respond to a wide diversity of perspectives and challenges, and understanding the differences across campuses.

• Commercial and strategic organisational reviews of the business development functions of a variety of charities such as The Scout Association, and the National Association for Voluntary & Community Action. We also assist smaller charitable organisations such as Suffolk Community Transport and BYHP (Banbury Young Homelessness Project) in business development and accessing fundraising opportunities.

• We have collaborated successfully on several assignments with students’ unions, including major building developments, campus food and beverage services, and new commercial enterprises. Our proven techniques combining semi-structured meetings, rigorous assessment of documentation, and knowledge of key sectors, consistently meet demanding expectations, with every assignment conducted to date achieving the deadlines, some very tight, set by clients.

• Quality assurance forms a fundamental part of our approach, the post-assignments feedback from clients is outstanding, and we are regularly requested to conduct follow up assignments.

Outside of work Jan loves (trying) to cook and learning to play the piano, while commiserating the woes of Manchester United with fellow-supporter Steve!