Sunderland-based Salamander Pumps has announced two new appointments as Dale Robertson joins as managing director and Claire Thompson takes up a newly created role of head of customer experience and marketing.
Dale Robertson takes on the MD role after starting out his career as a product design engineer and going on to lead teams in a number of engineering, management and marketing director roles.
Over the last six months, Claire Thompson has led on a customer experience project, which encouraged increased communication and departmental interaction through ‘T-shaped’ working – an approach which moves away from traditional corporate hierarchy, and places emphasis on working cross-functionally across the company.
Dale said: “I am delighted to be taking on the role of managing director – especially at such an exciting time for the company. I had always had a passion for uncovering customer or product issues, and then finding ways to solve them and the role at Salamander Pumps really appealed to me.
“I’ve worked at huge global companies and small intimate startups – but for me, this is a real sweet spot – it’s a nimble and agile organisation, innovative and full of potential for significant growth. We’ve already put lots of plans into action, including exciting product development, an overhaul of our customer service journey and even plans for a new HQ in Sunderland to support growth plans over the next three years.
“Claire’s new role will ensure that the customer is always the priority in the decision-making process at Salamander Pumps. Our customers are extremely important to us and our goal is to add value to their engagement with us, so they feel included with our brand like never before.”
Claire added: “I am delighted to be offered this exciting new role and I’m really looking forward to the challenge it will bring. It’s a great opportunity to work closely with the wider marketing and customer experience team to ensure we are offering a consistent, personalised and seamless customer experience.”
Dale and Claire’s new appointments follows a record year of sales for Salamander Pumps, it said, with sales of its best-selling CT Xtra shower pump range increasing by more than 30% over the last 12 months.