Chris’s new role, based at White Knight’s headquarters in Reading, is to lead and develop the sales teams and grow the number of business-to-business customers in its target geographical and product markets. White Knight currently serves more than 1,800 clients including hotels, restaurants, colleges and leisure clubs, with services such as the hire and laundering of work wear, bedroom linen and table linen.
A former England under 19 Rugby International, Chris started work for Macreadys Steel Stockholders in the late 1970s and left his rugby career behind him a few years later because of a recurrent knee injury. In 1984 Chris was promoted by Macreadys to Area Sales Manager and transferred to Southampton, Hampshire. After nine years, he left Macreadys to join Window Machinery Ltd., also in Southampton, where he was Area Sales Manager and Branch Manager for ten years.
Following that, Chris spent two years as Regional Director with Kaizen Services, then located in Gosport. In 1998 Chris joined Dougland Support Services, Fareham, one of the UK’s leading support service providers of soft, hard and management solutions to facilities management companies and commercial operations. After five years with Dougland, Chris took the position of Regional Development Manager with Nviro, Portsmouth, a cleaning, landscaping and pest control company where he worked for one year, before joining White Knight.
With regards to his appointment, Chris comments, “I was attracted by White Knight’s history of starting out as a family-owned business and becoming, 100 years later, the largest independent linen and laundry services company in the southeast. With an ever growing number of businesses outsourcing the cleaning of their linen and work wear, White Knight has exciting opportunities ahead and I wanted to be a part of that!”
Colin Dawe, Managing Director of White Knight, says the following about Chris Williams’ appointment. “We are delighted to have Chris join us. With his impressive sales, operations and business development experience in support service companies, I know he will contribute greatly to the growth of our business-to-business arm.”
Chris is 45, married and lives in Hamble, Hampshire.
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About White Knight Laundry Services Ltd.
White Knight offers dry cleaning and laundry services to businesses and households across the southeast of England. Services offered include the hire and cleaning of table linen, bedroom linen and work wear as well as specialist leather cleaning, shoe repair and washroom care. White Knight was established in 1904 and has grown to become the largest independent dry cleaning and laundry company in the southeast of England. White Knight’s business-to-business customers include hotels, restaurants, colleges and health clubs and are serviced from the company’s Eastbourne and London sites. Its door-to-door home collection and delivery service based out of Woking operates via an expanding franchise network in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, South West London, Oxfordshire, Surrey, East Sussex, West Sussex and Hampshire. White Knight is headquartered in Reading.
For more information on White Knight visit www.white-knight.co.uk You can also contact Jo Matcham at Selling Ideas on 02380 231857 or jo@sellingideasltd.com A high-resolution photograph of Chris Williams is available on request.