The company has appointed staff to a number of key positions since then, most recently Barry Thirkell, who returned to TCT in November for his second spell at the firm, this time as business development manager.
Other notable appointments include operations director Chè Colford around three months ago, finance director Robin Hilton around six months ago, head of retail Andrew Toon and technical manager Michael Piggott, who is also back with TCT for a second time.
TCT managing director Paul Underwood, who prior to Worrall’s appointment combined the roles of managing director and chief executive, said the end of 2016 brought to a close a successful strategic hiring process, implemented to support TCT’s current and future growth. The circa £16m-turnover company employs more than 200 staff.
“What I wanted to do was ensure we were futureproofing the company moving forward. To bring in some senior people to the board was very important, and we have already seen with the new team in place it’s really adding to our expertise here and is making us a far stronger company,” said Underwood.
Worrall was brought in at the start of the year in the newly created sole chief executive role. With 30 years’ business experience behind him, including several years as a chief executive with his previous organisation, his experience level was exactly what Underwood, who founded the company more than 20 years ago, said he had been looking for.
“Bringing in Keith was a big step for me personally because that was the role I had held here but in recent months I have seen the strengths of Keith on board, he has brought a wealth of experience at that level that I didn’t have, so it’s been a good strategic hire to have a chief executive here with the size of company that we are,” Underwood added.
Operations director Colford has 17 years’ experience in the card industry and is overseeing the setting up of a fully automated customer service system that TCT said will bring greater transparency to the business. TCT also said finance director Hilton has extensive experience working with high-growth businesses.
Essex-headquartered TCT mainly manufactures non-secure cards, including gift, loyalty and membership cards.
