ASHLEY TAKES ON TOP NORTH EAST SALES ROLE

South Shields security specialist Ashley Jones has joined Northern Security Ltd as Business Development Manager at the company`s Middlesbrough offices, taking charge of NSL`s fast-growing portfolio of clients in the region.

Ashley brings to the firm his expertise as a skilled negotiator and manager, gained both within and without the security industry.

Born and educated in South Shields, his first job was with a major national security firm at its regional headquarters in the town.. Following a series of promotions, he became at 22-years-old one of the company`s youngest-ever manager of "cash in transit" operations.

Ashley then joined Imperial Tobacco, based at its Wallsend branch - and began a twenty-year career with the multinational giant which took him all over Europe, liaising with distributors and customers.

An opportunity to join a security firm near South Shields then brought his working life back closer to home - and now, with Northern Security, Ashley remains in familiar territory as takes charge of manned guarding contracts in the North East.

According to Northern Security sales director Peter Smith, the expansion of the company`s Middlesbrough sales team is in response to a continuing rise in new business gains and enquiries:

"The economic recession is prompting many organisations to look more closely at their security arrangements - but not necessarily from the point of view of what they are paying," said Peter.

"Often they are demanding ways to measure effectiveness, and Northern Security has developed a number of unique management tools which allow clients to make such evaluations," he added.

A lifelong soccer fan, Ashley was once chairman of a non-league football club, and has managed and acted as trainer for a number of junior soccer clubs in the region. He and his wife Kate live in the village of Cleadon, near Sunderland, and have three grown-up children.