I’m the General Manager at Riviere Sands, Cornwall, and I’ve been with Haven for 13 years. My first role was as a Holiday Sales and Owner Exclusive Front Desk Team Member (now known as Experience Team Member) at Thorpe Park, Cleethorpes. From there, my career journey has taken me through a variety of roles, including Holiday Experience Assistant Manager and Holiday Experience Manager at Thorpe Park; Caravan Sales Team at Golden Sands, Mablethorpe; iClean Implementation Manager and then Operational Excellence Business Partner with our Central Support Team working across all 36 Parks; Head of Experience at Golden Sands, Mablethorpe; and then to my current role.

So many wonderful experiences have helped my career development, and I’ve benefitted from the support of some truly wonderful leaders. The most valuable experience I’ve gained, however, was from working centrally – I got to see lots of ways of working across many parks and various departments that gave me a deep understanding of the business in general. The one piece of advice I would give to anyone who wants to progress to General Manager would be to gain as much experience as possible in other departments or at other parks – to see and understand how everything works truly does help with your progress.

As part of my progression, I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in lots of courses and qualifications including Grievance and Disciplinary training, Inspiring Leadership 1, 2 and 3, Insights Colour Profiling, ‘Get Ready to Grow to General Manager’ and most recently the ‘Grow to’ General Manager/Senior Leader Programme. I’ve also been pleased to facilitate lots of courses/training within Haven including Breath of Fresh Air sessions as a Pioneer, TTT Breath of Fresh Air sessions as a Lead Pioneer, TTT Coaching sessions and Basic Colours Profiling sessions.

When I joined Haven, I thought I was waiting until I found a ‘proper job’, but I’ve discovered a satisfying career here and I feel like Haven has become my family. The opportunities you get with Haven are astounding: if you have he correct drive and passion and apply yourself properly, the sky’s the limit.