Congratulations Jennifer Leahy On 9 Years At Elite Group

We caught up with Jen to discuss her time at Elite Group

Since founding the company in 2000, Matt Newing’s philosophy has always been to employ and maintain the best possible staff. Jennifer Leahy, Senior Contracts Manager, is no exception.

Jennifer was originally working for another company that Elite Group acquired over 9 years ago. During the merger process, Elite saw the potential in Jennifer and offered her a position within the company, since then she has thrived, moving up from her original role with a clear path to leadership.

“It’s great to see people like Jen succeeding, we want people on the fast track to success. Jen works hard both during working hours and outside of office hours in her own time, investing in herself and so in turn benefiting herself and the business” Matt Newing – Founder

Jennifer’s journey has been rewarding and she has taken on every challenge with enthusiasm and purpose with an attitude to succeed, helping drive the business forward. We caught up with Jen via Microsoft Teams to ask about her journey so far and the challenges of remote working.

‘I was originally working in the accounts department on a placement year at GPNS, which is a company that was acquired by Elite. During the Acquisition and separation, I found myself really enjoying the process of migrating one business into another and I had a newfound interest in the legal department. Not only for the work they were completing as part of the acquisition but also day-to-day as well.’

Jennifer was lucky enough to obtain sponsorship through Elite to return to university and complete her degree in business management, and then come back and work in the legal and acquisitions department at Elite. Over several years of dedication and hard work within the company, Jen’s progression has led to her managing the legal department as well as managing acquisition integration projects.

‘Over the last 7 years, I’ve progressed to now managing the legal department and also managing all acquisition integration projects that we complete. Having experienced it first-hand, as part of GPNS, has made this a really great fit’

Elite Group believes in helping staff achieve their career goals through support whether it be via mentorship, education or other sources. Maintaining good staff support and wellbeing allows Elite to have better retention rates whilst building a healthier business with more knowledgeable, professional colleagues.

‘Elite have been really supportive of my career; they have provided me with sponsorship to complete my business management degree and they’ve also provided me with lots of additional training in law and acquisitions and mergers, to assist me in my current role and I was set on a really clear leadership development plan.’

For the greater part of this year so far Jennifer has had to work remotely, like many other people in the UK, Jen found it challenging. But with the right tools and support, she has been able to be productive and maintain her workflow.

‘Lockdown and adapting to remote working was initially really tough for me. I missed the social interaction with my team and everybody in the business. But Elite did make the change a lot easier for us by providing equipment and access to everything that we needed really quickly. They also set up a lot of virtual social events such as Friday night quizzes and wine Wednesdays, that made the whole experience a lot less challenging’

Elite Group is extremely proud of Jennifer’s achievements and congratulates her on 9 years so far with many more to come.

‘At Elite Group, we believe passionately that hard work should be rewarded, that competence is critical and that it’s possible to get things done – whilst still having a laugh along the way. We believe in helping people reach their potential, because we know our staff are our company’s greatest asset.’ Elite Group

See Jennifer’s full interview here.