Suggestions
Mark Lightowler
Interim Management, Key Account Sales, Manufacturing Executive, Team Coaching, Reusable Packaging Development
Professional Background
Mark Lightowler is a highly accomplished and experienced executive with a diverse background in B2B sales and plastics manufacturing across Europe. Over the years, he has built a solid reputation for driving profitable business growth and spearheading innovative turn-around operations. With a strong focus on strategic selling and building key customer relationships, Mark's leadership has consistently led to enhanced team performance and significant operational efficiency.
Mark's impressive career trajectory includes prominent roles at leading companies such as LINPAC and DS Smith, where he has effectively managed various projects that not only aligned with his executive responsibilities but also significantly contributed to the organization’s sales growth and manufacturing efficiencies. His transition to Interim Management in 2015 was strongly influenced by these rewarding experiences, allowing him to leverage his expertise to drive substantial growth in multiple business environments.
Education and Achievements
Mark began his academic journey at Exeter School, where he completed his High School education with well-earned diplomas and certificates. He continued his studies at the prestigious University of Nottingham, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Production Engineering and Production Management. This solid educational foundation equipped him with the technical and operational knowledge crucial for his future career.
Throughout his career, Mark has held several key positions that have showcased his ability to lead and manage teams effectively. His most notable roles include serving as the Executive Director at Acuity Interim Management Limited, where he has been instrumental in positioning the firm as a leader in interim management solutions. Previously, Mark held several pivotal leadership titles within the DS Smith Plastics Division, including Multi-Site Director, Key Accounts Manager, and Managing Director. Additionally, he has experience as the General Manager at LINPAC Mouldings, where he honed his skills in manufacturing and operational management.
Key Skills and Areas of Expertise
Mark's career is underpinned by his extensive skill set, which encompasses a range of competencies that are essential for success in today’s competitive business landscape.
-
Strategic Direction: Mark possesses a talent for delivering clear and actionable business strategies, rooting his approach in the alignment of employee targets with overarching organizational objectives. His strategic-direction skills are particularly essential in the ever-evolving plastics manufacturing sector.
-
Leadership: With a charismatic, challenging, and honest management style, Mark excels in driving sales growth, fostering innovation, and improving operational performance. His ability to attract and retain talent has proven crucial for building high-performing teams focused on achieving business goals.
-
Strategic Selling: Mark employs a structured methodology for acquiring new businesses and managing key accounts, particularly within the automotive logistics, retail distribution, construction, and print & display sectors. His direct involvement with key account sales management has allowed him to cultivate strong relationships with influential buyers, enhancing customer loyalty and satisfaction.
-
Team Building: Mark recognizes that a thriving organization relies on aligned and motivated teams. He prioritizes coaching individuals and teams to achieve high levels of performance and champions effective succession planning to cultivate future leaders within the company.
-
General Management: With a robust all-round management skillset, Mark demonstrates strong operational and technical acumen paired with financial literacy, which are essential attributes for any executive in today’s dynamic commercial environment.
Notable Achievements
Mark Lightowler’s many accomplishments underscore his commitment to excellence in his field. His tenure at DS Smith, particularly, is marked by a series of strategic initiatives that led to successful transitions during periods of operational change. His ability to navigate challenges, embrace change, and inspire his teams has been a testament to his leadership capabilities.
Throughout his career, Mark has consistently demonstrated a knack for identifying growth opportunities and implementing strategies that have a measurable impact on profitability. His innovative mindset and comprehensive understanding of the market dynamics in the plastic manufacturing space have made him a respected figure among his peers and clients alike.
Moreover, Mark’s role as an Executive Director at Acuity Interim Management Limited illustrates his dedication to ensuring that businesses not only survive but thrive, even in uncertain economic climates. He leverages his insights from previous roles to guide organizations through complexities, ensuring they remain competitive and well-positioned for future success.
Conclusion
Mark Lightowler is recognized as a leading figure in B2B sales and plastics manufacturing, with a strong track record of successfully navigating business challenges and creating pathways for sustainable growth. His educational background, combined with his extensive experience in executive management and interim solutions, positions him as a valuable asset in any organization looking to enhance their business strategies and operational efficiencies. Through his leadership, innovative approach, and commitment to team development, Mark continues to make significant contributions to the industries he serves, making him a prominent and influential figure in the field.
Location
People also viewed
Related People
Clay is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Clay centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Clay's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Clay isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Clay instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Clay is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Clay can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.