Chris Woodbridge – Getting to Know You

Our newest recruit to the RPC team is Chris Woodbridge, who joins us as Business Development Director, working alongside John Shoemaker in our Sales team. We caught up with Chris to find out a bit more about him.

Tell us a bit about yourself
I’m 42, married and have a 9-year-old son. I live in Moreton in Marsh, a small market town in the Cotswolds. It’s as picture-postcard pretty as Ilkley and the Cotswold dry-stone walls have a lot in common with the ones in Yorkshire, so I think I’ll feel right at home in the RPC fold.

Where did you work before coming to RPC?
I’ve been working in the same space as RPC for a while now since being with Oracle, in a sales capacity, within the Construction and Engineering Business Unit (CEGBU). I started off at Conject, which was acquired by Aconex, which was subsequently acquired by Oracle, and I was there for 6 years in all.

I first met Pete and Keith at Project Challenge about 10 years ago, when I was working in recruitment and specialising in Project Controls and P6 Implementation recruitment. It was around the same time that I met John Lister, when I was helping to place resources on a large red-stack implementation project he was involved with in South Africa. 

What attracted you to RPC?
Mainly the people and the culture. Although RPC has some big contracts and major clients, it still feels like a small, family business, where everyone pulls together and cares. It’s refreshing to escape from the form-filling, hierarchy and bureaucracy that comes with working for any big corporation and to be in a role where I feel I can really make a difference and help to shape the direction and strategy of where I work. 

What are you most looking forward to about working here?
There’s a huge amount of knowledge and experience shared by the RPC team and I know I’m going to learn lots of new skills from some exceptional, experienced people. I’m looking forward to being able to continue to work alongside my old Oracle colleagues, but with some fresh and invigorating challenges.

What challenges do you think lie ahead?
Well, the two most obvious ones have to be COVID and the impacts of Brexit. I think COVID will inevitably change the way we all work but with a glimmer of light just about visible at the end of the tunnel, I’m hoping that I will be able to once again get back to seeing people face to face before too long. RPC have adapted really well to the challenges already with remote training courses and improved cloud hosting for customers and have turned the situation into a positive by adding some new strings to our bow. 

What do you like best about your job?
I really enjoy the social aspect of being able to speak to lots of different people through my working day, getting to know them, identifying what they need and working out how we can help to find the right solutions for each different situation. Tackling some of the large, complex projects is fascinating and rewarding.

What have you been getting up to in lockdowns 1, 2 and 3? 
Luckily one of my interests is wine so that’s helped ????. 

I’ve been able to spend time cycling and getting fitter and I’ve spent some quality time with my family. It’s forced me to come up with activities for my son as he’s been unable to see his friends so hopefully its created a stronger bond between us and made me a better dad. Lockdown has been tough, but I am grateful for that silver lining.

What do you do in your spare time? 
I like to wear lycra at the weekends (cycling with friends locally – don’t panic!). If I’m not on my bike, I might be out clay pigeon shooting (I hold a shotgun license) or at home building Lego with my son. 

I also build large Lego creations to display at Lego shows in order to raise money for various charities. I’ve got one in progress at the moment: as a huge Star Wars fan, I’m building a large diorama of the Mos Eisley Spaceport and Cantina.

I think I already mentioned that I like wine. I’m actually doing some training now to learn more and am working towards the WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust) Level 2 Award, which covers all the most important grape varieties in the world, the regions in which they’re grown and the styles of wine each variety produces. Maybe someday soon we’ll be able to get out and taste the wine where it’s actually produced again. That would be good. 

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? 
I wanted to join the military as an RAF Pilot. I joined Beavers when I was 6 and went all the way up through Cubs, Scouts and the Air Training Cadets. Like many, I fell into sales accidentally when I picked up my first job as an estate agent (don’t hate me). People like to joke about estate agents, but I took very seriously the fact that people were trusting me with almost certainly their biggest asset and took a lot of pride in my work and tried to get away from the stereotypical estate agent ‘schtick’. I moved on from the property business, but I’ve been in love with sales ever since.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given? 
It’s more of a mantra and a fairly recent one. It’s from the title of a book written by Raymond Poole (who we work with at RPC): 

“Nothing is so bad that it couldn’t be worse” 

It reminds me to try and focus on the positive things that I should be grateful for.

What’s on your desk?
Lego Star Wars figures, I’m afraid. I could lie and say it’s a framed picture of Pete and Keith?

Last, but most important: How do you like your tea?
Strong with milk and no sugar. I’m a PG tips guy but I’ve been told I have to switch to Yorkshire Tea now.