Meet the Champions Life Academy Full Time team.
To find out more about the Senior Managers, visit our brand new blog!
Al Brown BSc Hons, Co-Founder
Having been involved with summer sales programmes since 2001, Al has much experience in the field of direct marketing. During his first summer, he became the top first year agent. The following year he ran the top team. 2003 saw him become the first undergraduate to achieve top division, whilst achieving a record turnover of £330,000 with a team of 22 students. To date, he is the most successful person to have come through a Champions programme.
John Pordum FInstSMM, Co-Founder
John has a decade of experience working with the student programme, running both top divisions as well as becoming Programme Director from the age of 26. During his very first summer as director, leading 3 divisions, John achieved the company turnover record of £1M sales in 12 trading weeks. Providing invaluable sales and management training, along with all round industry knowledge, John forms an integral part of the management team.
Alex Merry BSc Hons, Programme Director
Hailing from the University of Birmingham, Alex was a fundraiser on the first ever Champions programme in 2008, where he received the ‘Most Improved Fundraiser’ award that year. From there, aided with several years with several years coaching the University football teams, Alex went onto be the only candidate ever to have successfully made the transition from Fundraiser to Senior Management within a year. After his second summer he joined the full-time team and ran the Region of the Year in 2010. He then went on to become the youngest Programme Director in Champions history and grew the company over 100% in his first year; managing over 200 students and turning over £1M at the age of 23.
Chris Wallis FCA BSc, Chairman
Chris is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and a graduate of Bristol University. He is a highly experienced business executive having held directorships in a number of public and private companies.
From 2003 to 2007, Chris was a partner in DB Consultants, the corporate turnaround specialists, where his assignments included periods as Finance Director of Baltimore plc and Finance Director of Langbar International Limited.
Prior to DB Consultants, Chris held a broad range of senior positions in a variety of business sectors. He was European Finance Director of Kroll, the US Risk Management Specialist. Chris has also held internal management roles at Ernst & Young and KPMG. At the top of his game, Chris continues to build relationships with Champions, providing invaluable support and advice to all those in the programme.
Christian Gibbons BSc, Senior Manager
Christian completed his first programme just after his final year at Cardiff University where he studied Business Management. As a fundraiser he went on to become one of the top students on the programme that year. Following a brief spell in the corporate world, Christian was invited back to become part of the Full-Time team, where he was an integral part of the recruitment team for the 2010 programme. After a strong Easter programme performance, he was fast-tracked to Deputy Divisional Management. His own team that year, ‘Wolfpack’ won in a closely fought race for Team of the Year 2011. This summer he is looking to take his skill set to the next level as one of the programme’s Senior Managers.
Kirsty Ram, Placement Student
Kirsty is Champion’s second ever placement student and was offered the role having completed two Champions programmes. In 2010, she was one of the west region’s top fundraisers and went on to earn a Junior Management position in last summer. Studying Marketing and Advertising Management at Leeds Metropolitan University, Kirsty was thrown straight into the deep end with the challenge of organising the company awards ceremony which was a huge success. Now she is busy coordinating the recruitment drive, and looking after the marketing side of the business!
