Meet the Venues of Excellence Advisory Group
Venues of Excellence has a very distinguished and experienced Advisory Group who are industry professionals and venue leaders.
Chief Executive Officer – Mandy Jennings, Venues of Excellence
Finance – Lucy Fuller, Venues of Excellence
Chair of Advisory Group – Stewart Elsmore, Venue Cranfield
Vice Chair of Advisory Group – Emma Chamberlain, Imago Venues
Advisory Group – Richard Smith, Wyboston Lakes Resort
Advisory Group – Ulrike le Roux – Helidon Lakes
Advisory Group – Mark Field – Victory Services Club
Advisory Group – Julian Kettleborough – thestudio (Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester)
Get to know the experts
Venues of Excellence is a unique and diverse organisation made up of industry experts and specialists, dedicated to ensuring that the consortium represents the best independent venues in the UK. Each member of the team plays an important role in ensuring Venues of Excellence continues to live up to its name.
Mandy Jennings offers over 30 years sales & marketing experience in hotel and conference centres including senior sales positions with Thistle, Forte & Le Meridien, Marriott Hotels and in particular offers Venues of Excellence her extensive knowledge gained as Group Sales Director for the De Vere Group and Principal Hayley Hotels and Conference Centres.
Mandy set up her own company, Paje Consultancy Ltd in 2010, and is a successful consultancy and hospitality training business. She has worked with Venues of Excellence since 2015 as Executive Director, and taken the organisation from strength to strength, including being awarded the “Best Representation Company 2020” at the CHS Awards.
Over the past 5 years, Mandy has been instrumental in implementing the strategy for Academic Venue Solutions and serving as a Board Member for their organisation, plus she is extremely proud to be a Board Director for Imago Venues at Loughborough University, Ashorne Hill Management Centre and Venues of Excellence.
She was delighted to purchase Venues of Excellence in May 2021 and is responsible for the strategic direction for Venues of Excellence and guidance for all the key functions including marketing, sales and venue find service, signing up new venue members, learning and development and a full membership engagement programme.
Stewart Elsmore is Director of Campus Services at Cranfield University, a world leading and distinctive wholly postgraduate University.
Having trained as a hotelier and spent ten years in hotel general management, Stewart moved into the conference centre sector in 1989 and joined Cranfield Management Development Centre, one of the first purpose-built conference centres.
Stewart’s current responsibilities within his role includes three and four-star standard delegate accommodation across two conference centres, a portfolio of lecture rooms and food outlets, all student accommodation, preschool facilities, sports facilities, lecture room bookings and a range of additional commercial services.
Stewart has been on the Board of the Venues of Excellence since 1993 and has been Vice-Chairman and Chairman on two occasions. Within his role as Board member, Stewart is responsible for managing and developing the Preferred Partner scheme, and forging mutually-beneficial strategic partnerships with external organisations and associations.
Meet the Team at Venues of Excellence
The Venues of Excellence team have a great knowledge of the hospitality industry and skills that they share with our members.
The Business Development concentrate working with venue sales teams to help them gain business as well as positioning Venues of Excellence with key agencies and inviting member venues to joint presentations. The team also manage our sales focus groups to create proactive strategies for key market sectors.
Our free venue finding service works closely with our venues to deliver business from a range of clients and is a key area within the organisation.
Our membership team are your key contacts for anything around your membership and benefits. They arrange our member forums, sales and marketing workshops as well as planning our annual conference. Ensuring our teams are at the top of their came is a priority and the Venues of Excellence Learning and Development Academy is a great asset to your organisation offering a specialise industry training packages to member venues and we can also bespoke courses for your own venue teams.
The Marketing and Social Media team shares all your news and ours with the industry. From networking events to exhibition stand share, we can help position your venue with key conference and event planners. Through our Preferred Partner Programme our marketing team work to bring great opportunities to work with a range of partners who provide services and products to the hospitality sector.
In addition, your Venues of Excellence membership benefits, our expert team offer a range of bespoke services to venues on a project basis.
Nicola is responsible for researching and targeting new clients and developing the client relationships for the Venues of Excellence members. Nicky is also responsible for the #Agency Excellence programme which encourages a group approach to selling to conference agents. The venue find team for Venues of Excellence also reports into her.
Nicola offers vast experience in sales and the development of new business including senior sales roles for Principal Hotels, Handpicked Hotels, Arcadian, Forte Heritage and latterly she was Head of Sales Development for De Vere Hotels. She is a graduate in Hotel, Catering and Institutional Management and demonstrates a true passion for all aspects of the hotel industry.
Nicola has worked with Mandy Jennings for the past thirteen years developing new business for Paje clients and working closely on the training and conference market projects.
Maria is one of our Venue Finding Consultants with a passion for delivering excellent customer service.
Maria originally joined Venues of Excellence in October 2015 as Sales Co-ordinator. Maria has a degree in Tourism Management and has travelled widely, experiencing the hospitality industry from very different jobs and perspectives. Once settled in the UK Maria progressed at Hellidon Lakes Golf & Spa Hotel, providing experience in meetings, events and customer relationships. Maria is driven by a love for learning and delivering excellence in all she does. She is eager to deal with all our incoming enquiries from clients and support the sales activities placing business with our member venues.
One of our exceptional Venue Find Consultants, Sarah is passionate about really getting under the skin of client enquiries and finding the perfect solution.
Sarah has over 20 years’ experience within the Hospitality Industry and shares our passion for delivering excellent customer service. Her career began at The Belfry as a Duty Manager and then as Special Event Sales Manager. She then worked at a well-known booking agency as a Venue Finding Consultant and later worked as Reservations Manager. Sarah then moved to the role of Sales Manager for Handpicked Hotels at New Hall Hotel in Sutton Coldfield. After a career break to raise her two sons, Sarah joined a reservations company in 2015 as Cluster Manager dealing with 4 & 5 star properties across the UK.
Annette is one of our Venue Find Consultants and is passionate about providing excellent customer relationship management.
Annette brings with her vast experience in sales and business development within the hospitality industry. Originally from Warwickshire, her career spans over 18 years and began in Event and Conference Coordination for Radisson Edwardian Hotels at Heathrow. Annette has worked for several hotel groups as Sales Manager and Director of Sales & Marketing, including Hilton and Radisson Blu in Leeds until she returned to the Midlands working for Principal and The Hotel Collection.
“We have some fantastic members and I enjoy actively selling and promoting them whilst working with a very proactive team at Venues of Excellence”
Lindsey is excited to join the Venues of Excellence team as one of our Venue Finding Consultants.
With over 10 years’ experience working in agencies across the industry, Lindsey has worked in a variety of roles supporting clients with accommodation, venue finding and full execution of events. Her passion sits with ensuring clients events are a success and building relationships. Lindsey is looking forward to working closely with our member venues.
With almost 25 years of experience in the Hospitality industry, I started my career working for Queens Moat House Hotels. It is here I found my passion for Conferences and Events working as Conference Coordinator for 8 years. I then worked for Handpicked Hotels, including various roles as Reservations Coordinator, Conference and Events, and Assistant Revenue Manager. After 7 years with Handpicked Hotels, I moved to a Reservation Support Service company as Partnership Manager looking after 4 and 5-star independent luxury Hotels.
I have a passion for building strong relationships and offering excellent customer service. I enjoy creating a memorable experience for our clients.
Michelle is responsible for the engagement and management of our membership, where she prioritises, nurtures and develops the relationships with our members and the Venues of Excellence team to ensure that the best possible return on investment and member satisfaction is achieved. Michelle arranges member events across the year, along with the Annual Conference.
Michelle brings a diverse range of skills to the team encompassing all aspects of venue & event management, international hotel sales and corporate hospitality. During her career, Michelle has worked in proactive sales roles for Forte, Heritage and MacDonald Hotel Group.
Annette is responsible for developing new memberships and strengthening corporate market relationships. Her focus is on generating business for member venues and VOE through targeted initiatives and partnerships, with a strong emphasis on a customer-centric approach.
Annette has over 20 years’ experience in sales, account management and customer service across the hospitality and consumer goods sectors. Her hospitality career has included roles such as Corporate Sales Director, alongside sales and account management positions supporting independent and exclusive hotel brands, helping to drive market share and develop new corporate opportunities.
She also has extensive experience leading international customer care operations across the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Africa within the consumer goods and skincare industry.
Lucy takes care of the Venues of Excellence accounts, paying our suppliers promptly and looking after the payroll for the team as well as assisting Mandy in managing the business and finance for the organisation.
An experienced businesswomen and hospitality professional, Lucy’s career began as a hotel sales manager growing through the sales roles to Key Account Management, Sales Team Management and Head of Sales Development.
Latterly Lucy, along with her husband, bought and transformed their own small hotel business, creating an award winning five star inn with eleven guest bedrooms and employing over 30 staff with a turnover in excess of £1M. During the eleven years developing the inn Lucy trained in finance and marketing and combines that knowledge with her strong skills in implementing systems and processes.
Christine works with us on a freelance basis managing some of our key Marketing Projects throughout the year. With over 35 years in the Hospitality Industry, Christine has a wealth of sales, marketing and PR experience to share with the team.
Throughout her career, Christine has held a number of senior sales and marketing roles within the four and five-star market in Hotels and Venues across the UK.
Her knowledge spans broadly from private elite events, luxury loyalty programmes to fundraising charities. Her knowledge of the MICE market is significant having worked with Conference Aston, Kents Hill Park and Whittlebury Hall Hotel and Spa before setting up Oomph Sales and Marketing in 2013.
Over the years, Christine has been part of the Venues of Excellence consortia working on various focus groups, and in her role as Interim Marketing Manager managed the project to rebrand Conference Centres of Excellence to Venues of Excellence.
Christine continues to work with Venues of Excellence on marketing projects and the Preferred Partner Programme.
We’re delighted to welcome Gillian Venning to Venues of Excellence as our new key contact for member venues, working closely with conference and event agents across the UK. A highly experienced Sales and Marketing consultant, Gillian brings a strong track record from independent hotels, global brands, and destination venues. Known for driving strategic growth and building lasting industry relationships, she brings energy and expertise to every project.
Gillian has already supported several of our member venues including Unique Venues Birmingham, Weston Park, and Mar Hall, on sales projects focused on agency and corporate partnerships. Prior to this, she oversaw the rebranding of DoubleTree by Hilton Harrogate Majestic and drove award-winning success at The Coniston Hotel and Country Estate. Her impressive career also includes senior roles at Celtic Manor Resort, supporting the Ryder Cup, and worked for many years on-site and nationally for Marriott International, where she earned the prestigious Chairman’s Golden Circle award.
With deep expertise in B2B sales, strategic planning, and team leadership, Gillian is perfectly placed to help our venues grow in the agency market and beyond.