Board Members

The board is headed by Managing Director, Mark Stratford, who has 25 years experience in the industry and was the head of engineering at Tesco, before setting up Project First in 2001.

The Engineering Director is Matthew Reeves-Smith, who has a wealth of technical and commercial experience, having spent time working for Marks & Spencer and Safeway.

The latest member to join the Group Board is Operations Director, Steve Thompson, who prior to joining the Project First Group held senior roles with Gilbarco Veeder-Root, Ionica plc and British Sky Broadcasting.

Since its foundation in 2001, Project First has grown from an initial staff of three to employing a staff of 300. 'We have continued to invest money in people,' says Mark Stratford, 'with ongoing recruitment to strengthen our team whilst developing our existing people. This is to ensure we have the correct resource to deal with all aspects of the business.

'The Board structure was created to enable the functional heads to lead and develop their repective teams, in order to meet the increasing challenges and to manage the growth of the company. This was a critical step in the transitional phase of moving Project First from a small, owner-managed business, to a national, professional player within the UK refrigeration sector.'