We are delighted to announce that Ben Ecclestone has joined us as Business Operations Manager.

Ben has gained a wealth of experience in a breadth of delivery, commercial and operational roles in a range of industries, including multimillion international oil & gas projects, public and private sector consulting, and marine defence roles. Ben held several senior positions within the marine defence industry, where he led the commercial and contractual teams for significant national and international programmes and business stream operational activities. In these roles, Ben gained a reputation for being innovative and empowering the people and teams he worked with. Actively seeking out and championing diversity of people, thought, and experience, Ben enabled people and teams to release their full potential – “if you want great, elegant and novel solutions, embrace diversity and create a space where everyone has a voice”.   

Most recently, Ben put his enthusiasm for people and transformation to work as a Programme Manager for business transformation within an FTSE 250 organisation. Ben is often seen at the forefront of innovation as an early adopter testing, learning, and evolving solutions to bring about transformation and positive change.

On his appointment, Ben commented, “I am thrilled to be joining VIMA at such an exciting time of growth and development. I’m very much looking forward to working with all the team to bring about our strategic goals and plans.”

As a father of two, Ben loves spending time outdoors with the family – “it’s not a good day unless you’ve been outside, on the water, got muddy, been to the beach or been active in some way’. Ben is also a competitive offshore sailor (not sure how he has the time!) yacht racing around the UK and Ireland as part of ‘Team Hero”. A very keen cook, Ben loves entertaining and dreams one day of having a small holding with a sustainable field to plate canteen.