Penny Watson

Premises Manager

My school days began not so many years ago at the village school of Byers Green before leaving to join secondary school in the huge conurbation of ‘Spennymoor’ where I now live with my partner and 12 year old daughter.

The head of our household is our five year old British Bulldog “Oscar” I started my working life at National Savings in Durham City as a Civil Servant and my career spanned twenty-five years climbing through the ranks in various roles, in my last six years National Savings was managed by Siemens Business Services and who still do today.

My last role at Siemens was Service Desk Manager managing seventy staff having multiple clients including Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA), National Savings and Investments (NS&I), Coventry City Council to name a few. This meant quite a lot of travelling within the UK and Ireland.

It was a very demanding role with high customer expectation working to very strict deadlines. One thing this role taught me is how to get the best out of people whilst building first-rate relationships.

I have been with my current employer Wear Valley Development Agency since June 04 and my role at the Agency is Office Manager.

I am the first point of contact for the tenants of Innovation House and I see that as a very important role, this relationship will be a lasting impression of the Agency and I endeavor to make it a good one.

One rule I try to live by: You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.