MON T H LY N EWS S PECIA L Eastbourne Town and Jon Pitts also plays rugby for Lewes as
well as being a good cricketer playing for Seaford.
Being part of a team
same for business. Chris will join us as
an Account Manager
and his role with have two main functions.
Firstly, he will be taking over some of our
renewals for our existing customers. Maintaining
partner has been living and working
here whilst I have been up and down the country, so I never truly left. I
‘think’ she is happy (for now) to have me around a bit more.
Dan, what skillset do you think Chris can bring to your business and what will his role be?
I have known Chris for several years
since I got involved with Sussex CCC as a sponsor. Chris has always been good with the sponsors as he is a
great ‘people’s person’. That is the
main thing in our role - you need to be good with people.
All of us within the business have been
involved with sport at good levels. I have played rugby for Lewes since the age of 5, Derrick has played and coached football for Eastbourne Borough and
all the training, now its time to get to work and get myself involved in the local business community.
Smith. What does this mean and what
in sports and this is the
I kept my base down here and my
new opportunities. Having completed
teamwork, discipline, hard work are all vital
Nottinghamshire for the past 3 years,
made me feel really excited by the
Dan, you have recently agreed a
self-motivation and
Although I have been playing for
of local businesspeople has certainly
sport really helps. Communication,
such a strong sense of community.
by Dan and WPA, alongside a number
relationships with our clients is key for us.
Secondly, he will be responsible for generating new sales so he will be
getting involved with the local business community to build his network.
Chris, how do you feel about starting ‘life after cricket’?
It is quite daunting. I have wanted to
be a cricketer since the age of 7, and have been fortunate enough to do it
joint venture agreement with Derrick plans do you have in the long term?
Until recently, both Derrick and I ran two separate franchise businesses under
WPA. Derrick covered Brighton & Hove with Dan and Jon covering Gatwick/ Crawley/East Grinsted.
Derrick and I have been discussing for a
few years about working together to use each other’s skillset. Derrick has built a
business up over 25 years and previously managed this on his own. I have run my
franchise for 11 years and bought Jon in 4 years ago to help with this.
Being a franchise restricted by
geographical territories meant we were
both restricted on the activities we could do as these had to be done in our own locations. By joining forces, the two
territories will be run as one business and the four of us will manage all
aspects of the business between us to share the workloads.
for a living over the last 20 years. It is quite well documented how hard professional sportspeople find it to transition into life after cricket. It is something I have always thought
about, and this has really helped.
Whilst we feel invincible when we are playing, for every player, the time will come and it is vital to prepare. I have
been extremely fortunate to meet a lot of great people through cricket and the business community in Sussex has always been great supporters
of sport in the county. The help and encouragement I have been offered
Daniel Wade
www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk 11
