Meet the Team

Ian Williams

Board Member

Ian is a co-founder of Caplor Horizons and has a passion for its purpose. He is a specialist in strategy. He has a successful track-record in leadership and management. Ian was CEO of Concern Universal, an international development charity, for 16 years. He holds an Honorary position at Worcester Business School. Ian has been a non-Executive Director of Haygrove, a leading international horticultural business, since it was founded.

John Berry

Board Member

John is member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) and has an MBA from Henley Business School. His specialism is strategic marketing and managing the internationalisation of businesses and organisations.

Mike Lloyd

Board Member

Mike’s career in finance started with a practice of chartered accountants in 1979 moving into commercial business in 1982. Since 1985 he has worked with a builder’s merchant/property developer/domestic and commercial property landlord and for many years has run Kington Building Supplies. Mike has been working with Caplor for over twenty years.

Briony Sellar

Board Member

Gareth’s partner has been involved with Caplor for the last eighteen years. Briony has a genuine commitment to the countryside with long term experience in teaching and equine business management. She is currently a health visitor for NHS Herefordshire. Briony is completing her Teaching qualification, following successful completion of an MA in Community Public Health.

Gareth Williams

MD, Caplor Group

BSc (Hons) Agriculture, NSch

Gareth has a long and deep rooted and evolving passion for the sustainability agenda. This led him to develop his family farm into a diversified rural business which includes Caplor Energy. Gareth is actively involved in the renewable energy industry and wider environmental arena, to which he contributes through Board membership of the Solar Trade Association, Chairmanship of Business Futures Forum as well numerous local and regional lobbying groups.

During his career Gareth has had the privilege of working in developing countries through consultancy positions giving agricultural, sustainability as well as leadership support.

Gareth has been a farmer all his life being born and bred at Caplor Farm which the family has operated since 1923.

Also – Gareth was once a mental health social worker and plays guitar in the notorious “Slippermen“

Matthew Lake

Operations Director

Matthew has 25 years of international project, operations and strategic management experience, principally through successive roles with development charity, United Purpose, in Sierra Leone, Bangladesh and the UK, most recently as Chief Operations Officer. He has also worked in social change organisations in India and the United States and has been Chair of Governors at his local Hereford school.

Matthew has a degree in Agricultural Economics and Masters’ degrees in both Development Economics and Responsibility & Business Practice.

Matthew brings his experience and his commitment to sustainability to Caplor Energy as Operations Director.

Mel Preedy

Business Manager

BSc in Psychology (Hons), MBA Leadership & Management.

Mel is passionate about the work she does, and lives Caplor Energy’s values of Inspired, Sustainable, Improvement. As Business Manager Mel co-ordinates the team to deliver high quality renewable energy installations by ensuring each member plays their role to their best of their ability.

Also – Mel has had work published in a scientific journal.

Oliver Edgar

Operations Manager

Oliver joins Caplor from a Technical and Operations background in the Biomass sector.

Oliver has had a varied career before joining Caplor, including starting as a warehouseman, becoming a fully qualified solid fuel installer, frontline technical support, to running a successful training centre for installers.

He is passionate about renewables and has a desire to better the industry, environment and Caplor.

Also Oliver has appeared on Blue Peter singing at Hereford Cathedral.

Chris O’Riordan

Business Development

Caplor Energy has benefited from Chris’s input for more than four years providing consultancy input on Sales and Marketing development.

Chris has spent 15 years leading teams from 2 to 300 with a specific focus on organisational structure, revenue optimisation and people development. Through leadership and systematic execution of principles, processes and deployable tools he’s driven fast impact and results, repeatedly changing the game and enabling ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things.

Kirsty Smith

Customer Support Manager

Kirsty joins Caplor Energy from a sales and operations background in the manufacturing sector. As a business owner for ten years Kirsty brings substantial and real time experience to Caplor Energy. As a farmers daughter she can also relate to the farming environment.

Kirsty is responsible for helping customers get the most out of their renewable energy systems through regular cleaning and servicing support.

Also – Kirsty played rounders for the Wales U21 team.

Alan Warren

Sales Surveyor

Alan has considerable renewable energy experience which helps ensure that our customers receive the correct product for their needs. With extensive experience in both solar and renewable heating, he is thriving in the Caplor environment that shares his passion for all things sustainable.

Also – Alan and his brother ran Bromley Motorsports who won the Formula 3000 Championships (F3000) then went on to win the Birmingham Grand Prix in 1988.

Clive Davies

Sales Surveyor

Clive has been site surveyor for Caplor Energy for several years. He has brought with him a considerable amount of interpersonal experience and business acumen.

Also – when elected President of his Rotary Club at the age of 33, he was thought at that time to be the youngest ever UK Rotary President.

Alex Fornal

Sales Associate

Alex has 17 years’ experience in renewable energy project development and management and is passionately committed to the renewables cause. He runs his own consultancy, GreenT Consultants Ltd, and is enthusiastically focussing on commercial PV opportunities in South Wales for Caplor Energy where he’s helped to establish an office in Merthyr Tydfil. … also:

Alex is a passionate Welsh rugby fan and is a fully trained Community First Responder.

Mel Williams

Accounts Manager

Mel has spent the past few years focusing on her young family, whilst continuing to work on a part time basis as a self-employed Accounts Manager and Stock Controller. Mel has recently joined the Caplor team as Finance Manager bringing with her 16 year’s experience working within different accounting roles. She has a diploma in Legal Accounts and completed her Accounting technician qualification (AAT) in 2009.

In addition to managing all financial aspects of the Caplor Group she is responsible for collating the monthly management accounting pack, which monitors key performance indicators within the business.

Chris Tipping

Digital Marketing

Caplor Energy work with Chris and his team to reach out to new and existing customers, offering the latest advice, product offers and technical support.

Chris is the managing director of The DM Lab and has built the company from the bottom up. He has experience in the sales industry and dealing with clients face to face. To go alongside his 10 years experience in the sales and marketing sector he has a degree in Computer Science, Networks and Information Security.

He also possesses a further 5 years experience in the web development industry, where he harnessed skills in programming and online marketing. Running successful SEO , PPC and digital marketing campaigns.

His vision and determination is second to none and will always make sure a project is carried out at the highest possible standards.

Howard Johns

Company Advisor

Howard joined the team in December 2015 when Caplor Energy acquired his established company – Southern Solar. Howard has been in the solar industry for around 15 years during which time he has been instrumental as part of the Solar Trade Association and bringing shareholder-owned solar sites to life. He now works with Caplor Energy to ensure we remain at the forefront of the industry.

Deven Thakkar

Company Advisor

As well as being one of Caplor Horizon’s Advisors, Deven is on hand to support the development of the website plus any IT technical issues.

Steve Kessler

Installation Team Leader

Steve has been with Caplor since 1994 and is the only member of the team – other than Gareth – who has been involved in all elements of the organisation – Caplor Farm, Caplor Property and Caplor Energy. He has a wealth of practical skills having had experience as a plasterer, builder, bricklayer and plumber to name but a few. As a PV installer he now carries a Part B 17th ed qualification and is lead installer in the Caplor team.

Also – Steve broke his leg flying into a wall in a paraglider. And as an aside, has been chased by a Killer Whale.

Andrew Davies

Commercial PV Installer

Andrew was born and raised in Hereford and attended Hereford Cathedral School before leaving and studying Industrial design at Brunel University. It was here that he first began looking into renewable energy when he specialised in Environmentally sensitive design, Cognitive Ergonomics and Electro Pneumatics. On his return to Hereford he became involved in a range of business interests and for 10 years this included property renovation and new builds. It was this involvement in the building industry that would allow Andrew to spark the interest again in environmentally beneficial technologies when he became involved with Caplor’s renewable energy installations.

Also – Andrew achieved a National Gold medal for rowing as part of a Double Scull.

Vinny Duffin

Assistant PV Installer

After A-Levels, Vinny worked in insurance for four years. With an introduction to numbers, Vinny felt a BA Hons in Accounting & Finance called which he completed at Brighton University.

A stint of working for a friends’ company ensued until early 2011 when he started to install PV panels. It soon became clear that Generation numbers was all Vinny could think about and he started working with Caplor full-time in November 2013. His interest outside work include running, road biking, mountain biking, swimming and hiking.

Also – Vinny has completed triathlons and marathons and hopes to one day complete a half Iron Man event. Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro was another personal achievement.

Elliot Body

Electrical Sub-Contractor

Elliot has worked with Caplor Energy for several years gaining a range of solar experience from domestic to MW sites. As well as being a qualified electrician, Elliot is our in-house comms expert advising on the monitoring and data aspects of projects.

Dave Evans

Electrical Sub-Contractor

Dave’s first choice of Career was to be a Lawyer but choose Electrical textbooks over Law and trained as an electrical engineer on account of Herefordshire would have lost an epic electrician.

When he’s not answering the county’s electrical needs he’s sailing super yachts across the Mediterranean and has successfully completed his Yacht Masters Course. His sailing passion has taken him all over the world including Australia where he spent four months diving.

Also – When he’s not sailing, Dave can be found in the gym or a coffee shop.

Barney Westbrook

Heating engineer

Barney has worked with Caplor Energy for the last year as a heating engineer specialising in heat pumps, biomass and solar thermal installations. Barney has worked on domestic and commercial heating projects across the country and is one of the most qualified engineers we have on the team!

Owen Lawrence

Electrical Sub-Contractor

As a fully qualified electrician Owen has worked with Caplor Energy for several years, completing both domestic and commercial solar installations for a range of clients. This experience has provided Owen with a huge amount of solar experience from small domestic solar systems, battery back up systems to 1MW ground-mounted arrays.

Sandy Hanson

MD at Caplor Property

Sandy moved to England from South Africa in 2000. She has gained a wealth of experience over the past 10 years having worked as Property Manager for a busy letting agent in Hereford for six years, then joining Caplor in 2008. Prior to commencing work on a very diverse role at Caplor, she achieved a merit award for competency in property management from the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA).

Sandy oversees a successful letting office in Merthyr and manages an extensive portfolio of properties in South Wales, Hereford and Worcestershire along with our international property investments in Poland.

As someone with a passion for people she was key to the development of our human resources department, which due to the success of Caplor, has grown from four employees to five managers and 15 members of staff all dedicated to the continued success of Caplor. Above all she prides herself on her enthusiasm and dedication to the job. When she’s not behind her desk she enjoys spending time with her family, playing golf, reading and volunteering in the soup kitchen at her local church.

Also – Sandy was the local YoYo champion when she was 10.

Islay Sellar

Property Assistant

After completing her BA in Art and Design at Birmingham City University, Islay supported Sandy with an eco pod project in September 2015. It was clear that she’d be a key asset to the team and now supports Sandy full time with the property side of the business. A fan of outdoor sports – particularly climbing – she has settled in easily and is relishing all the new experiences coming her way.

Also – Islay shares her birthday with her grandpa.

Tom Pattison

Lifelong Member

Tom Pattison has been with Caplor Farm since 1923. When Tom first started at Caplor the farm had sheep, chickens and 14 cows that were milked twice a day. Tom is a dab hand at pretty much everything and still has his hands firmly in looking after the herd of pedigree Hereford cattle roaming the land at Caplor.

Also – In 2008, Tom received the long service award from the Three Counties Agricultural Society which was presented to him by Lord Apsley.

Russell Price

Agricultural Manager

Russell Price Farming Services works in partnership with Caplor on our long established family farm business. Russell’s main focus, along with ensuring all aspects of running the farm are met, is to maintain safe, efficient and quality work practices. Ensuring the welfare and development of the arable crops and our pedigree Hereford cattle herd. He has a lifetime of experience and can turns his hand to any task as the vagaries of agriculture require.

Meet the Team

Caplor Board Members

Caplor Energy Office

Caplor Energy Install Team

Caplor Property

Caplor Farm