Lorna Barlow
Business Planning Manager USA
Lorna joined En Route in 2005 responsible for providing costing and pricing analysis in support of current and future business models to maximise profitability and efficiencies. Lorna has held similar roles in Microsoft Corporation and Apple. Lorna has recently moved to Atlanta to help build the USA business unit.
She’s got the travel bug and at last count had visited 58 countries (and therefore sampled lots of airline food!).
Out of work Lorna is also a bit of an action woman, she has been sky diving, bungee jumping and scuba diving, and if that wasn’t enough she also loves discovering Atlanta night spots with her new found friends and going to the gym.
Favourite En Route product – All things yum.me
Celine Kramer
Customer Support and Procurement Executive USA
Celine is based in our USA office. She joins us from a background in the Airline caterer industry and moved to the US in 2007. Before this Celine lived in Baarn, a cute little town in the Netherlands.
Celine loves going out for dinner and discovering new products – making En Route International the perfect choice for her! Being a lover of food Celine enjoys going out for dinner with friends, as well as following food trends and sourcing new products.
When Celine isn’t eating food or dreaming about it she also likes to paint, she is a creative person and enjoys refurbishing & restyling antiques. Celine likes unique furniture and many items in her home are antique, if you ever go to visit we think you should use a coaster and keep your feet off the coffee table.
UK Team
Alison Lessmann
Managing Director
Alison moved to Germany after graduating from Huddersfield Polytechnic with a degree in Hotel management and Catering. She spent 7 years running a sandwich business; she taught the Germans about British Sarnies and tells us their favourites were chicken tikka and prawn mayo. After years of eating lovely German bread Alison was rather upset upon on her return to the UK to be given sliced loaves, so she decided to start a business offering European specialities to airlines; hence En Route was born.
Alison claims she loves the three S – Shopping, Shoes and Sleep! We have it on good authority that her duvet ‘days’ have in the past lasted the whole weekend and she rather loves her big comfy bed.
Besides the above Alison likes the good things in life like Pink Champagne, eating good food, travelling and diving. She can also speak German fluently and has a real passion for marketing & brands, people psychology, and looking into what makes consumers tick.
Favourite En Route product – Little bites box
Robert Dalboth
Finance Director
Robert joined En Route just over a year ago after a long stint as VP Finance for a large multinational packaging group. Robert is a Chartered Accountant by profession, and has a degree in German and Russian from Bath University. During his studies he travelled to both Germany and Ukraine spending half a year in both.
When not working, Robert spends most of his time on the M3 / A303 driving up from the South West every day, he has told us he is considering doing it blindfolded one day to spice up the drive so look out for him on the local news.
In whatever spare time he has left, Robert spends time with his wife and two children, watches Bath Rugby, and generally gets annoyed at his poor standard of golf and squash.
Sarah Jerome
Operations Assistant
Sarah has been with En Route since 2006, working in both Accounts and Operations, she is therefore a handy brain to pick if you ever need to know something. She has recently returned to work after having her 3rd son, Zach who is 8 months old, and if that wasn't enough she also has 2 other sons both under 10! She has been with her partner Jon for 12 years and all in all is rather outnumbered at home with all these boys around.
If Sarah gets any spare time at all, apart from trying to catch up on a huge sleep debt, she also loves to see her friends for something to eat, and most importantly partake in some girly chat.
Tracy Kellett
Sales Director
Tracy joined En Route in 2008, prior to this she has worked in the bread/food industry for 7 years, and in the cigarette industry for 14 years – but tells us she never smoked! She is a self-confessed hoarder of samples, she is passionate about food and loves showing customers new products. Tracy can usually be found with her blackberry in one hand, telephone in the other, responding to a mass influx of emails (all at the same time).
Out of work Tracy has a busy home life, living out in the sticks means she has no option but to moonlight as a taxi driver for her 14 year old son. In-between this, she enjoys renovating houses, eating out, and being ‘boot camped’ by our very own Amanda.
Favourite En Route product – Cheese & Cracker pack!
Franziska Maunder
Director of Sales Middle East
Fran has been based in Dubai since 2005, after a long term relationship with En Route as a supplier, and being impressed with En Routes work ethics and achievements, Fran joined the En Route team as Sales Director for the Middle East in 2008.
She is now overseeing the Middle Eastern operations. Fran is fluent in German, English and Spanish and has extensive experience in the Bakery industry for a number of high profile European bakeries.
When not busy at work or chasing after her baby daughter Fran enjoys the tranquillity of the desert, and off roading in the Wadis.
Ed Gatland
Product Design Executive
Ed graduated in 3D Design (BA Hons) from the Arts University College of Bournemouth. He has been with En Route since January ’10 working as our Product Design Executive. Ed has worked on a range of successful product packaging concepts such as the MMM Breakfast Box, MMM Little Bites and our increasingly popular Yum.me range.
Ed claims he will try anything once, which explains why many of our food samples go missing. Ed is a freelance product designer, most recently designing the VW T1 Camper Van Tent which is quite an achievement. As if this isn’t enough, he likes adventures on boards & bikes, and dislikes cold wet rainy days.
Favourite En Route product – Almond Pain au Choc, Wasapeas
Amanda Allan
Operations Team Leader
Amanda has worked at En Route since 2006, a certified ‘old timer’ and currently working part time in Operations Training Development. Prior to this Amanda worked in the En Route Sales & Marketing team, as well as operations, making her not only an experienced member of the team but also a fountain of knowledge.
Out of work Amanda is a bit of a fitness fanatic, she runs her own business as a REPS qualified personal trainer and enjoys extreme sports, kite surfing, mountain biking and skiing, if that wasn’t enough she also ran the London Marathon in April! You may be mistaken in to thinking we have our very own bionic woman in the office.
Favourite En Route product-Rocky Road
Farah Khan
Operations Team Leader
Farah has worked at En Route for almost a year, joining as Operations Assistant she is now Operations Team Leader. Before that she worked as an Export Cargo agent.
Megan Fairhead
Operations Assistant
Megan works as a Customer Assistant; she helps to process orders and is also responsible for the Little Bites customer orders from around Europe, covering 17 destinations. She also helps out in Sales now and again, and has travelled to both Norway and Germany to deliver En Route products.
Megan is an Ex British Rhythmic gymnast, and has travelled within the UK and Europe to compete; she was even selected to train with the GB group squad. If you are lucky enough to meet Megan on the end of the phone, you will find she is a bubbly friendly person who is happy to help.
Favourite En Route product - Cranberry twist
Kelly Richardson
Operations Assistant
Kelly works as an Operations Assistant, prior to this she worked for a worldwide company where she progressed across 2 departments before joining us here at En Route. She is a bubbly energetic character in the office, who loves anything creative.
Out of work Kelly studied at the London College of Fashion, she also teaches dance and even dabbled as a pro. Sprinter when she was a teenager. In between dancing and choreographing, she also likes painting, drawing, rollerblading and most worryingly – ironing. (all bin bags of crumpled clothes can be left outside the office door labelled: KELLY)
Favourite En Route product – Cranberry twist
Gemma Thomas
Finance Manager
Gemma graduated in Management & Business Administration from the University of Reading, she also has a post-grad diploma in Finance and recently qualified for her CIMA. Gemma joined En Route in May 2011 as a Business Analyst and is now our Finance Manager. She is a good problem solver, with strong analytical and process improvement skills.
Out of work on the other hand… She lets of steam by dancing – even if it’s in her kitchen, and when asked her likes and dislikes, she answered Mojitos!
Favourite En Route product – Blueberry burst
Marian Kearney
Credit Controller
Marian works in Finance as a Credit Controller, she has years of experience working in this role for a number of leading UK brands so we know we’ve got a safe pair of hands on board.
Marian lives locally and is an active member of the WI. She has assured us she is not in any of ‘those’ WI calendars, yet. When Marian is not busy with that, she enjoys reading detective books, watching Midsomer Murders, and Taggart. Who better to have in Finance than our very own Chief Inspector John Barnaby?
Favourite En Route product – Banana Cake
Terri Wisbey
Operations Accounts Assistant
Terri works in finance dealing with invoices, customers, credit control and anything else the Finance team may throw her way. She previously worked for a building society, before taking a year out to go to Australia.
Outside of work Terri loves to shop, meet up with her friends and have a good night out, or in. When she’s being good she also likes to catch up with her studies in Accountancy.
Favourite En Route product – In the mood for food – Chocolate bites
Kathryn Salisbury
Sales Executive
Kathryn works in the Sales team, closely alongside Tracy our Sales director. She graduated from Southampton University with a degree in Anthropology and has admitted to being a bit of a people watcher. She is a friendly face in the office who is always happy to help out her colleagues.
Kathryn loves to travel, she has been to Machi Picchu, the Taj Mahul, and Ayres Rock. She has also been bungee jumping, sky diving and white water rafting. Now she’s back home she enjoys socialising, going out, and attends body combat every week, however she also makes time for some of the quieter things in life like a good old cup of tea and a chocolate macaroon.
Favourite En Route product: Chocolate macaroon
Claudia Collings
Office Manager
Claudia graduated from De Montfort University, Leicester with a BA Hons in Business Administration. She has over 11 years of office management experience, including working for her own family run cheese wholesaler supplying to pubs, restaurants, and contract caterers.
She is a self-confessed organiser who hates clutter and keeps us all in check at En Route. She loves gardening and has even organised a map for her plants – so as you can imagine she runs a tight ship around here.
One day she would like to run a farm and sees herself as a bit of a Margo Leadbetter, if anyone touches her giant courgette there will be hell to pay.
Favourite En-Route product- Pain au choc
Charlotte Clark
Product & Marketing Executive
Charlotte studied BSc (Hons) Nutrition at Bournemouth University, where her love of food stated. Graduating this year, Charlotte is in the process of gaining registration as an associate nutritionist with the Nutrition Society, UK.
Out of work Charlotte’s ambition is to travel to as many places as possible, collecting as many handbags as she can along the way. She is another avid body combatter along with her colleague Kathryn, and enjoys keeping fit and staying healthy.
Charlottes claim to fame is that she owns what used to be Russel Crowe’s bicycle! This will come in handy when cycling off the calories from her other passion in life – In the mood for food chocolate bites.
Favourite En route product – In the mood for food chocolate bites
Joanne Hall
Marketing & Website Executive
Jo graduated from Cardiff University in Business Studies BSc, since then she has worked in Marketing roles for a global health & beauty company, a Research agency and most recently part-time for En Route. Out of work Jo runs her own small cake design business and spends most of her Saturday’s delivering wedding cakes, and responding to customer orders which are getting more and more bizarre. Her latest order was for a dog wearing a snorkel …
Besides from En Route Jo likes cooking, buying recipe books and never making anything from them, eating out, and seeing her friends. She also spends an un healthy amount of time talking to everyone at work about her new kittens.
Favourite En Route product –yum.me Kerala Chicken in coconut
Gurpreet Batth
Management Accountant
Gurpreet works here at En Route as our Management Accountant, she is AAT qualified and is currently working towards her CIMA. Gurpreet has a science degree and also has a background in teaching.
Out of work Gurpreet enjoys spending time with her children and cooking their favourite meals. She also enjoys watching live TV shows, and likes listening to a bit of Barry White.
Favourite En Route product – Chocolate Macaroon
Ravi Ghattaure
Treasury Analyst
Ravi graduated from Kingston University with a degree in Finance BA (Hons). He since worked for 4 years as a Finance Assistant within the same company and is currently studying towards his full ACCA qualification.
He is a friendly approachable face in the office who always seems to be busy having meetings and doing Finance type things that to be honest most of us don’t understand. When Ravi is not working he likes playing and watching football, golf and boxing. He also likes watching films, theatre, travelling and socialising when he can, although most of the time he should be studying for his exams, so if you see him having too much fun – let us know.
Denise Pirone
Operations Assistant
Denise has joined our Operations team as working as an Operations Assistant. Denise has previously worked in both Sales and Operations in Germany, where she has lived all her life. Denise is Italian, Sicilian to be precise, and can speak four languages; Italian, German, English and French.
Denise moved to the UK in summer 2011, when she’s not working she loves food and likes to cook, inspired by her Mum, although Denise says she is probably never going to be as good as her!
Denise is currently in the middle of moving, she has the majority of her house in her car at the moment and is hoping to be settled soon so she can enjoy seeing the sights of Windsor, London and the rest of the UK.
