Staff and Structure Dec 2007

Part of Lotus' success has been attracting enthusiastic staff, many of whom come into direct contact with our customers. Here's a pen sketch of who you might talk to.

If you call our office in Melbourne the phone will probably be answered by either Leigh Wilson, who looks after folding door sales, debtors and invoicing, or Tina Stubbs, our resident 'Northerner' from England who provides vital admin. support to the business, dealing with creditors, and managing the overheads budget. These ladies report to our Financial Controller, Peter Schouw who has recently joined us, and adds vital depth to our Finance and Accounts Departments.

Our Victorian Sales team is well known to many. Tony Clark, and as well as bringing considerable leadership and experience to the team, is our face in the market place. Another face you may well know is Mark Weightman, our cockney humourist, who is out on the road getting both a laugh and lots of orders from our architects and builders. Apart from humour, Mark also brings a Design / Drafting background to Lotus that ensures he understand what our clients need. Mike Greenwood carries the distinction of being the first Manager recruited by Lotus, back in 1991. Mike's current role is as Folding Door Sales Manager, assuming responsibility for growing our folding door business in Victoria and managing our larger retail customers.

Commercial estimating and sales administration are ably lead by Tamara Lambrick. Tam has Nicole Smith and the recently married Sarah Scanlon (nee De Valle) reporting to her, looking after the Victorian builders and our export clients (what's that in feet and inches?). Also in the team is the returned Allison Cadan, with an overall 10+ years of experience with Lotus, who ensures all sales administration is 101%. Last but never least is Taryn 'Let's Go 4WD'ing' Gray who ably caters for the estimating in Qld, NSW & WA. Annette Hale is taking a well earned break whilst she starts her career in motherhood, with the addition of Cooper to her family.

In the West our able State Manager is Gary Wardle who has a background from hardware retailing to back packer accommodation and is now well versed in selling moving partition systems for Lotus. With growing demand in the West we are recently joined in WA by Michael Preston who will look after the project management of our jobs and gives Gary a little breathing space. Thanks for hanging on Gary! In South Australia, Jack De Candia is well known as Lotus' man about town in Adelaide. You may also speak to Jack's wife Angela, if buying our folding doors. Like WA, the growing size of our operation has meant we are joined by Paul Santostefano, who escaped Victoria's Western borders to take up residence in SA to join Jack and Ange.

Over in the East, stoic performer David Cicchiello is our State Manager in Queensland who can sell and use a tape measure! David trades his four wheels for two on the weekends and has a passion for chromed accessories! The NSW sales charge is lead by Andrew Savage and is ably assisted by Matthew Fellingham. These two are so wicked we cannot publish their anecdotes on this site! Heading up the project management side of the NSW business is Stephen Millar who has quickly proven to be a fine addition to the NSW team and is so capable he can turn a Glas-STAX wall into a pool fence. Steve is ably supported by Christian Rimondi in managing site installations and Michael Macdonald, who is responsible for servicing our growing wall base and is vital back up for our NSW operations.

Going South, Tassie is managed by our long-time agent LOVAG, and Lou & Janna van Gelderen. After a well earned break in Europe Lou and Janna have returned to install the tallest Operable Wall in Tasmania in the Georgetown Memorial Hall. Lou brings great depth of knowledge of the Tassie market and is our southern smooth operator. Janna keeps Lou on the Straight and Narrow, and provides vital organisational and administation support.

Back in Melbourne, Lotus has consolidated its three production divisions under Eddie Wilson. Eddie has Lisa Holloway, Dean Britton and Al Mitchell supervising the factory floor. Al and Lisa are part of our history and very much part of what makes Lotus Lotus. Dean, the relative newcomer, you could have sworn was here for ever. Preparing factory cutting sheets is Mohammad Adil, Andrew Prandolini and new comer Trent Doherty who brings with him experience in the Operable Wall industry. Mohammad brings international engineering experience from India and Dubai and Andrew comes from a furniture design background and has an eye for fine design. Purchasing and freight are taken care of by Glenn Harrigan and Rosi Tusitala. Tom Turcic, Marty Belcher and Craig Sorraghan are our fomidable Victorian Project Managers who run our jobs on site and have learned to juggle installation schedules like a 'Cirque du Soleil' masters.

Design & Development, this vital aspect of our business, is headed by Glen Anderson. Glen is our D&D Manager, who is an Industrial Designer by trade. Glen is soon to be joined by Mov Ear, who's arrival cements Lotus' commitment to continued product innovation and design excellence.

Looking after all of these people is Danni Calder, our HR Manager who loves her job so much she keeps moving her house closer to the office! Unfortunately we just moved the factory further away. As compensation Danni has just handed back the Finance function to Peter Schouw. Thanks Danni.

While this roll call may seem a little self indulgent, every one of these people is dedicated to helping you, our customer. Together with our factory staff they define a very important aspect of Lotus' success - a strong family feeling working for Lotus and providing the best service to our customers. At the end of the day it's the people that matter - you'll never get "press 1 for sales, press 2 for ..." at Lotus. You will always get someone helpful to speak to directly. So now you know a little bit about who's who.