Oliver Dennis, Sector Operations Manager, celebrates 20 years at TPA this month

07 Feb

Since joining the company back in January 2003, Oliver started out as Drivers Mate and worked his way up to his current role of Sector Operations Manager.

Whilst of course, raising a family and managing the work-life balance that comes with 20 years dedicated service. We caught up with Oliver to congratulate him and find out more about his journey with TPA over the last 20 years.

Congratulations! What has the last 20 years looked like for you at TPA?

I joined the company back in 2003 as a Drivers Mate, quite different to the role I find myself in today. I followed the natural progression of the Driver Operative Pathway, working as a mate, Drivers Operative and finally a Lead Driver Operative. The next step in my progression saw me take on the role of Field Sales Engineer for the North East, later expanding into the North West.

As the role grew, it saw me also take responsibility for Scotland, later becoming the Regional Manager for the area. After a shift away from the Scottish region, I became Contracts Manager, lastly followed by my current role of Sector Operations Manager.  Now I have responsibility for our site operation in a range of sectors including construction, civils and rail.  I also manage a team of Project Co-ordinators, the majority of whom are long servers with the business.  A member of my team, Matt Baines, is now in his 21^st year with the business. 

During your time with the company, what have been some of your biggest achievements?

Two contracts that I am proud to have won and worked on over the years are the Fugro contract in 2014 and the Lenton Lane Install in 2010 – pictured above. Lenton Lane was in Nottingham and after winning the contract, I was responsible for overseeing the install of a double element cross-bonded access over six railway lines through the night. We had less than 18 hours to install the HD panels and have them recovered for the line to re-open. Requiring two teams to install over 300 panels to get the job done in the timeframe we had. The Fugro work at Sellafield involved up to 5,000 HD panels and took five crews to install.

There must have been some challenges over the years, what stands out as your biggest?

I worked as the Regional Manager in Scotland for three years. This meant three years living away from home Monday-Friday, away from my partner Glynis and daughter Olivia who was 11 at the time.

Oliver and his daughter Olivia back in 2006 – taking her first trip in a TPA wagon alongside her dad.

Dave Walkden, MD at TPA commented; “It’s great to see our employees reach these long service milestones.  We want TPA to be a business that enables its employees to progress and build rewarding careers; Oli is a fantastic example of that.  I’d like to congratulate Oli on reaching 20 years of continuous service and look forward to seeing what the future holds for him”