“Positive, engaging, value-mad agency biz dev man. Life & soul, loyal as a daft dog, footie mad, festival friendly, NLP disciple, proud dad & loving hubby. Phew.”

That’s how our new Business Development Director, Simon ‘Calders’ Calderbank describes himself on his Twitter bio and we’d struggle to disagree as we serve up a better late than never introduction to one of our recent recruits.

So what do you need to know about Simon? Well, firstly he used to run nightclubs & restaurants back in his original Manchester days. This comes in quite handy because whenever you are out and about in Manchester with Simon there’s nearly always a forty something greying ex-Hacienda geezer waiting to greet you with either a free ticket, a beer or something stronger. On a more commercial level, these early career experiences have given Simon a real entrepreneurial edge and clients are already enjoying the benefits of his business acumen and natural northern warmth.

Simon had then moved down south for a slice of the quiet life where he settled in the picturesque town of Henley-on-Thames. His career also begun to gradually shift direction towards senior client services and business development roles across advertising & marketing, live communications, digital and event hire agencies. You can find out more about Simon’s career progress on his Linked In profile where I’m sure he will be glad to connect with you.

Last year, after eleven in exile, and now married with one child and one on the way, the Calderbanks decided to return to their northern roots to be closer to family. Him, Manchester, his better half, Cumbria. Simon eventually put his foot down and they compromised on Cumbria (see loving hubby bit) which now sees him commuting out of Kendal everyday. A proper Studio Northerner if you like.

I bumped into Simon at a local creative networking movement, Northern Soho, (thank you to Sarah Cheal for the introduction) and the rest as they say is history.

In a short space of time, Simon has already won us some fantastic new business and hopefully our shared values are resonating with clients and those to be. Business development is something the whole agency now rallies behind and the increased levels of energy and collaborative approach towards developing the Studio North brand is down to Calder’s unswerving ability to motivate and inspire others around him.

Clearly, feel free to link in above but if you wish to follow Simon on Twitter you can find him at the remarkably obvious @simoncalderbank where you’ll be joining a very very select few.