Neville Merritt
Biography
Neville Merritt
B.A., MIoD
Neville is a skilled and experienced business leader with a management track record spanning over 30 years in high tech and manufacturing industries. Working with senior executives and teams, he uses this first-hand experience to help leaders develop winning strategies and teams to increase performance and improve results. Neville’s strong sales background and operational management experience brings a clear focus on practical solutions and positive impact on the bottom line.
Neville joined Pure Potential from Advanced, then one of the largest UK-owned software companies, where he ran the group leadership and development function including an in-house training school. Previously the company had grown rapidly through acquisition before transitioning to a single corporate entity, and as general manager Neville successfully migrated one of the high-profile acquisitions into the group while increasing revenue and profitability.
Prior to Advanced, Neville held management positions to board director level in the technology sector, including operational, sales and consulting roles. Notable projects included:
- On-boarding a newly-acquired company and successfully integrating it within a larger group
- Working with strategic partners to establish the company on major public sector procurement frameworks
- Developing on-boarding programmes for graduate entry with over 100 successful recruits in the first year into sales and customer services
- Rolling out company-wide sales methodology training to over 300 quota-carrying sales professionals
- Setting up a new UK operation for an Irish software company, extending markets and increasing revenue
- As group marketing director, combining the lead management and marketing functions across four operating companies
- Setting up a new business unit to take a new enterprise solution partner product to market, covering sales, professional services and support functions
- As general manager of a market-leading software company, negotiating the first international distributorship and launching a new enterprise software solution, which is now one of Microsoft’s leading enterprise brands
Neville’s sector experience includes enterprise software from SME to large private and public sector projects; IT managed services; logistics and distribution; process and discrete manufacturing; retail supply chain and professional services.
From 2015 to 2021 Neville was Chairman of the Marketing and Sales Group at techUK, which represents the UK technology industry. He then took up the role of Non-Executive Director and Chairman for Koolkompany Limited, promoting ethical trading by supplying Fairtrade school and corporate uniforms. In 2022 he became Entrepreneur In Residence at Portsmouth University where he works with young entrepreneurs and start-ups associated with the University.
Neville’s areas of coaching specicialisation include:
- Business Coaching on strategy, business development and talent
Neville uses his wide experience to bring a highly practical approach to coaching and mentoring. A former business coach for the Enterprise M3 Growth Hub (a Local Enterprise Partnership or LEP), he is now Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Portsmouth where he mentors and coaches start-up businesses. - Senior team coaching and facilitation
Olwyn and Neville have worked together for many years, including during their careers before Pure Potential. Their approach is very complementary and together they ensure that larger team facilitations are highly engaging and deliver the necessary impact. - Speaking engagements
Neville is regularly invited to speak at live and virtual events on relevant business topics, and to chair or participate in panel discussions.
Outside work, Neville has had a lifelong interest in boats and fishing. A keen promoter of safety on the water, he is author of the book “Angling Boats”, and is featured in the RNLI safety film “Serious Fun”.