John Ellis, Managing Director - Freidman Ltd

A mechanical engineer by training, John’s first senior role was as Director of Haden Facilities Management Ltd. He built up the business from only two contracts to a level of thirty-eight, turning over £30m within the space of four years and employing 500 staff.

Of those contracts a number were large government awards including MAFF (London Estate), DFEE (Sheffield), CSA (Birkenhead) and Benefits Agency (West Country). As a result of his involvement in those contracts, John established excellent relationships with key management personnel in the public sector.
 
In 1997 he joined what was to become MacLellan International. At the time, it was an automobile-focused group of five disparate companies that were brought together as a single entity. The combined turnover was £34m. By 2006 MacLellan was an AIM-quoted company with an annual turnover of £265m employing 13,000 staff. Customers included HMRC, Sainsbury’s, Prudential, CB Richard Ellis, Boots, NICO and Corus among many others.
 
In 2008, along with the previous Business Development Director from MacLellan, John King, and other investors, they together purchased an existing M&E company with the purpose of establishing a supplier of high quality services. The company is Freidman Limited.
 
John is President and past Chairman of the Facilities Management Association and became a Freeman of the City of London in 1986.
 

A WORD OF ADVICE:

You have to trust the people you work with, have confidence in them and empower them to do their jobs well. That’s the way you achieve success.

A LITTLE KNOWN FACT:

John is a keen scuba diver and holds a Gold badge for scuba diving, gained in the Maldives. John is also a Freeman of the City of London.

RECOMMENDED READING:

Service Breakthroughs : Changing the Rules of the Game by James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser, Christopher Hart

ON i-FM:

MacLellan's service business reversed into Jordec 

Clear Bluewater

LINKS:

Freidman

FMA

NJC Skyscrapper
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