Directors
Mark Manville [Managing Director]
Mark is Managing Director at Character Mailing and has been in the Direct Mail business for over 20 years – working up to Director level from the shop floor and everything else in between. He is involved in the day to day running and planning of the business.
Mark spent several years as Area Director, managing several sites in print and fulfilment and has vast experience within machine fulfilment and print including Lithographic, digital and large format.
In 2014, he lead a successful Management buy out of Character Mailing Services Ltd, having previously worked on several mergers and acquisitions.
John Shipley [Sales Director]
John has been in Direct Mail for 29 years, whose journey started as a porter many years ago at a data company. He worked his way up through the ranks to Call Centre and then Account Management. John then moved to Abbey National in the 90’s as a Buyer, it’s true to say he’s been on the other side of the fence!
He then worked for an Envelope Company who relocated him from the South to the North back into Direct Mail at a Manchester based company. After a year they put John out on the road into Sales and he’s not looked back since. From there, he then moved on to work for 2 big Corporates in sales, before settling at Character – where he has been for the past 8 years.
Management
Paul Reeves [Warehouse Manager]
Paul has been with Character Mailing for over 30 years. It’s safe to say he’s had a hand in most departments in that time. From office based stock control and management, to booking in and organising the flow of work though the factory, the role of Warehouse Manager is hugely important to the smooth running of the operation.
As well as being the link between Sales, Client Services and the production floor, Paul ensures our carriers know how and when our customers’ mailings are ready to despatch. It’s a finely tuned process that keeps our factory ticking along.
George Blythe [Data Services and IT Manager]
After graduating from Sheffield Hallam University, George worked in the Print Trade in Reprographics, using Adobe Creative Suite and numerous imposition workflows. He then moved on to digital print & mailing, managing the department and processing all data from Mailsort to variable print templates through XMPie, to print on a Xerox iGen and fulfilment.
At Character Mailing George is the Data & IT Manager, which involves processing work through our Cygnus data processing suite, through to templates within PrintShop Mail, whilst adhering to all the Mailsort guidelines and regulations and implementing checks and procedures within our Laser department. George has also been appointed as the GDPR Officer, controlling all the security aspects of our clients data, from receipt to secure deletion and is currently involved in implementing procedures to attain ISO 27001.
Chris Mills [Director of Character Creates. Print and Digital Designer]
Chris leads our Creative Services Team. His focus, since joining in the Summer of 2018 – is the growth of this new area of business for Character and the development of Character Creates as a company. In the recent past, Chris owned and run a design agency and has a wealth of Creative, Print and Industry related experience and knowledge – from Graphic and Digital Design, Digital Marketing to Print Buying and Management.
Chris devotes a lot of time to creative research, Pinterest is one of his favourite haunts. As well as offering Creates’ clients design services, his team also manages the design and creation of all marketing materials and digital assets for Character Mailing and Character Fulfilment too. Sometimes he he might manage to fit in one of his favourite hobbies, playing the Guitar as well!
Direct Mail Client Services
Joanne Manville
Joanne has worked at Character Mailing for over 18 years.
Starting out as Trainee Account Executive, managing the door drop campaigns in the Finance and Retail Industry sector, such as Insurance providers and High Street Retailers. She then progressed to Account Manager working on the large volume mailings such as Mail Order, Banking and Finance industry and daily response mailings for media companies like Next Plc, Sky and Freeview – which carried specific SLA requirements.
Due to changes within the business, Joanne was promoted to Client Services Manager looking after team of 3 staff overseeing the running of the office, ensuring that all projects were managed effectively and completed according to client specifications. This role involved working closely with Sales Team, meeting with clients, discussing requirements from a Direct Mail perspective to plan print, mailings and postage.
For the past 4 years, Joanne’s role has changed and she now Project Manages for Characters biggest client. This involves managing and processing mailing campaigns for despatch to 13 different countries, with volumes in excess of 14.5 million packs, which is in production for 8 months of the year. The role involves liaising with overseas clients, managing the processing of 280 million component parts, ensuring that each individual countries sortation requirement is met. She manages the planning of the shipments which are sent worldwide.
Mel Murphy
Mel has many years of experience in Direct Mail having worked for two other companies before joining Character. She has been with us for 8 years now, primarily as an Account Manager, whose responsibilities are the day to day running of accounts from data to mail out.
Direct Mail Data Services
Ben Barton
Ben has worked for Character Mailing Services since February 1997. Performing various jobs from data capture to IT Support, data processing and programming, currently Ben is the Companies Data Programmer.
His main duty in the company is processing data received from clients using Software Bureaus’ Cygnus software and applying the data to our design software ready for printing. Also, when and if required, he uses software from various other sources.
Ben is the program developer of the company management system and his other areas of responsibility include IT Support for the company PC’s, printers and network infrastructure.
Human Resources
Liz Bennett
Liz has worked for Character Mailing Services [and its different owners] for over 31 years. Initially in our accounts department, but for the last 24 years has been our one woman Human Resources Department.
She has involvement in everything people related from admin to payroll, hiring to firing, holidays to Health & Safety and contracts to recruitment. Let’s not forget pensions too. Liz pretty much knows all staff inside and out.
In busy times, you can also find Liz helping out managing production staff in the factory too. A good all rounder we say!
For further information on our Direct Mail Services click here
