Our team and culture

James has overall responsibility for the business, takes the lead on strategic direction, leads the consultancy work and enjoys designing new processes for client businesses. He set up Decent Group in 2007 after becoming self-employed in 2004 and finding there was more work than he alone could cope with. Previously he worked for an educational publisher, developing automated typesetting processes for textbooks. Essentially James wants to transform businesses into the most efficient and successful version of themselves. 

He has two As and a D at A level, the D being caused by the teacher who spent two years gambling on teaching only half of the syllabus.

James collects street lights from the 1950s-1990s – a very inconvenient hobby that takes up a lot of space. His karaoke performances must be seen to be believed.

“I love our team and I love my job! I get to meet and understand so many people, at so many businesses, in so many industries. It’s so satisfying to be part of their growth journey.”

Jason looks after our team of developers and oversees the day to day operations of the business. He has been with the company for over six years and before that he worked as a Senior Project Manager for the UK’s largest IT training company. He brings a wealth of experience to Decent Group.

Jason takes his inspiration and strength from his family and believes that ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’. He has a passion for driving process improvements through to completion and making sure his team have the tools to do their job effectively and to the best of their ability.

With two young children life is busy, but he still finds time to manage and coach a children’s local football team.

“I strive to make a difference, whether it’s for the people that I work with and support or for the clients who benefit from the fantastic work that Decent Group do.”

Rhys is responsible for looking after clients, some strategic planning and a bit of everything else. He has been with Decent Group for over seven years. Despite his software development skills, Rhys much prefers to be thrown into a mission-critical situation and use every trick in the book to solve the problem, particularly if it involves an iPad or two.

Rhys is rarely satisfied, always striving for more and always looking for the next big project. He is motivated by making an impact: helping take businesses to the next level with support from outstanding systems.

Outside of work, you’re likely to find Rhys in the gym, tinkering with a car engine, or cooking several meals at once so he doesn’t have to do it again for several days.

“Working at Decent Group allows me to collaborate with great people and learn about a range of different businesses. Helping businesses take their software to the next level is extremely rewarding.”

Bradley looks after a multitude of clients – all with unique problems and challenges. He enjoys understanding clients’ business processes and proposing a best fit solution to their business. He also loves the project management side of his job and crosses over to the solution design and software development side as required. A good week for Bradley is using his expertise to solve complex business problems.

He feels it’s a proud achievement when you deploy a new system or see someone using something in their day-to-day job that you designed or created. 

Bradley has a strong interest in new and evolving technology. He enjoys learning to use new things and often does this for his personal projects. Two of his other particular loves are the pub and cooking. He also has a thing for unusual pets and has had both a tortoise and a duck in the past.

“Since I started working at Decent Group I have vastly expanded my people and problem solving skills. No two projects are the same, there is a new problem to solve every day and to do so with a team as lovely and skilled as ours is a really rewarding and fun experience.”

Bekki thoroughly enjoys the diversity of her role, often working closely with the developers to find the perfect solution for her clients. She is renowned for delivering projects on time and on budget. Before entering the software industry, Bekki spent over 10 years in office management and developed a range of valuable skills including first aid (she continues to serve as an internal quality assessor for a First Aid training provider). 

Bekki’s spare time is spent listening to live music at local venues. She also appreciates food from all over the world and will always choose something from the menu she has never had before, especially if it includes a new variety of cheese.

“Working at Decent is an incredible journey and one that continues to amaze me. The vast variety of people, businesses, and systems I interact with is fascinating. Surrounding myself with such a friendly and talented team means my day is a perfect mix of education, creativity, dedication, and enjoyment.”

Lauren’s biggest strength is working with and supporting people. As the newest member of the client management team, she brings many years’ experience redeveloping and improving business systems. She is passionate about providing a high standard of client service and maintaining a consistently strong working relationship with her clients. She also loves seeing clients using their new systems. 

She particularly likes this quote by Eleanor Roosevelt: ‘You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. Do the thing you think you cannot do.’

In her personal life, she often enjoys going for long walks with her adorable Poochon, Ruby, and reluctantly attends the gym from time to time.

“Working with such an array of different clients means that no day is the same and you are constantly being challenged, which is something I really enjoy.”

Durga is one of our most experienced FileMaker developers with over 12 years of experience at Decent. He rapidly learnt the ropes and has become a one-man production whirlwind. He is also our go-to for IT support, and keeps the queue of jobs pleasingly short.

What really motivates him is working away in the background revolutionising clients’ business systems. He finds inspiration in the quote, “Keep learning new things every day”. 

When not working, Durga likes spending time outside doing landscape photography (and he’s really good at that too – we have his artwork on our walls). However, he is not so good at going home on time and has to be forced to leave the building.

“I love to help clients resolve their issues and help them achieve their goal by improving their system.”

Paul has been with us as a software developer for over seven years. He enjoys the challenges of software development brings and especially likes working on more complex projects. He is very good at making the user interface lovely to look at. He has a calm and quiet exterior but beneath it there lurks a whirling, highly effective brain.

In his spare time, Paul enjoys watching and following cricket, particularly supporting Somerset County Cricket Club.

“I enjoy working for Decent Group as a software developer, as the work provides many complex challenges for me to overcome, along with a variety of different projects to work on.”

Eilish particularly enjoys building a software system from the ground up – first identifying what’s needed, then designing the solution and finally testing it. She has always loved working with computers ever since primary school and knew it was something she wanted to do as a career. She started out with us as an apprentice and has been with Decent Group for over four years. She loves using Claris FileMaker, which she finds a versatile and powerful platform.

Eilish enjoys spending her free time with her French Bulldog called Jazz and with her family.

“It’s really nice to see clients using something you’ve built and making their work lives easier.”

What motivates Sinéad is that every piece of work we do provokes positive change in progressing our clients towards their company goals with maximum efficiency. She’s worked in admin but didn’t find that sufficiently challenging or stimulating, so she went to university to gain a first-class degree in mathematics, and joined us afterwards. 

When she’s not wrapped up on the sofa with her dogs, Sinéad enjoys long countryside walks with a pub stop, attending fitness and singing classes, and volunteering at a local community allotment. But family time is the most important thing for her, and she is on a mission to support brain tumour charities.

Sinéad is inspired daily by her magnificently brave husband, Harry, who reminds her to: “Be grateful. Smile at adversity. Laugh in the darkest of times. Hope when all seems lost. Love always.”

“Every client and project is different so there is such wonderful variety and challenge in the work we do! Each day brings new opportunity to learn something new about their industry and its needs.”

Lorraine is a great addition to the Decent Group team and brings with her a wealth of organisational, communication and client service skills. She enjoys data analysis and reporting, so we know that she’s the perfect person to streamline and improve our business.

With two young boys to wear out, along with a fondness for going running in her spare time, Lorraine’s life is very active.

“I find it very satisfying making sure things run as smoothly and efficiently as possible.”

As part of our crack software development team, Sameer enjoys the challenge of identifying and solving a number of problems while responding to a rapidly changing set of competing priorities. He brings with him a wide experience of programming languages including Java, JSP, MYSQL, PHP, Bootstrap, JavaScript, HTML, HTML, CSS – and, of course, FileMaker. 

For him, the mind is everything and what you think is what you become. 

Out of the office, Sameer likes to play guitar and enjoys gaming on his PS4, particularly Call of Duty.

“I am glad to be part of this innovative team and to have an opportunity to grow within the company by learning new skills.”

Samuel is a software developer currently taking an apprenticeship with Decent Group and New College Swindon, which began in early 2021. New College is also where he took his A-levels in chemistry, maths, and computer science before starting with us. Despite his relative inexperience, Samuel is determined not to be outdone in the quality of the software he develops. He finds the challenge of learning new things and putting them into practice every day enjoyable and satisfying. 

When not working, Samuel enjoys reading, long walks, and playing video games. But all of that is secondary to taking care of his demanding cat, Emile.

“Working with Decent Group is an enlightening experience, and I greatly enjoy learning new things about the FileMaker platform and using them to help our clients. It’s rarely easy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!”

Lee is a software developer who works with FileMaker and also our web development expert. He started programming at 16 but only decided to pursue it as a career aged 22, shortly after graduating from university with a degree in sport, health and exercise science. Today he particularly prides himself on the quality of his work developing intuitive user interfaces.

Lee enjoys watching and playing all types of sport, as well as cooking and eating all types of food from all over the world.

“My favourite part is building great user experiences that make sense and are really easy to use.”

Ishtar oversees all of Decent Group’s marketing, including website and brand management, communications, digital marketing and research. She has been working with us since 2012 and has a wealth of marketing experience. She is known for her calm persistence in getting the job done and getting it done right.

When Ishtar’s not at work, she enjoys being outside, whether walking or gardening (or just sipping a drink in the sunshine) and enjoying time with her family. She’s also a dab hand at cooking and baking.

“Working at Decent is a joy. I’ve always loved marketing as it entails so much variety, and the variety of businesses, industries and people we work with at Decent ensures my job is never boring.”