Neil Hogben – Getting to Know You

A key member of our growing Consultancy team, Neil Hogben has a hand in most of the projects going on within RPC at any one time and he's also one of the important Trustees overseeing the employee-owned trust behind the business. Outside of work, you'll probably find him on two wheels or with a power tool in his hand. Find out why his top piece of advice would always be 'Be more Keith'.

Where are you based? 

I mostly work from home, which for me is in sunny Leyland, Lancashire... it’s always sunny in Leyland, but I also frequently get out to see our customers wherever they’re based.

Tell us a bit about yourself 

Well, my name is Neil Hogben, I’m 46, and whilst I've lived the Red Rose county for many years, I’m a true White Rose Yorkshireman, born in Sheffield. I’m very much about family and friends. I’ve been with my long-suffering wife Donna for almost 15 years. Between us we have four children, Aimee (27), Rio (23), Ethan (12) and Jess (8) and two grandchildren so family is very important to me. Anyone who’s met me will know that I moan about the kids regularly in jest, which is my right as a dad, but I really shouldn’t as they’re all really good kids. We also have 2 Dogs Chester and Harry. 

How has your career path brought you to RPC?

My interest in a career, as opposed to a job, came quite late in life, as I pretty much lived by the motto ‘work to live, not live to work’, much to the frustration of my parents. Working in a call centre gave me an introduction to project delivery. For six weeks, I was seconded onto a project to develop a new claims handling IT system and in that short time, I got a real taste for working towards delivering something which would see big gains and efficiencies for the company. I worked in PMO for the next few years at both HomeServe and at Lloyds Banking Group, during which time I got the opportunity to add to my Project Management and Planning skills by attending a course to learn Oracle Primavera P6 with Pete Gable at Richard Palmer Consultancy, which later evolved into RPCuk. When I heard that RPC was looking to expand their growing consultancy team I thought I might fit the bill. Having worked early on for a small family-run business, I felt really at ease with the ‘family’ culture at RPC and thought that it would be a good opportunity to explore more with my P6 skills. I started off supporting the Consultancy team before spreading my wings into P6 Training delivery, which dovetailed back into Consultancy with one of our larger projects delivering a P6 EPPM solution for Rolls-Royce Aerospace. As we’re now a 100% Employee-Owned Business, I’m a member of the Board of Trustees as the voice and representation for the employees, which is interesting and enjoyable.

What are you working on right now? 

We have many ongoing projects and I probably get roped into most of them. My role is to support our projects team and I enjoy that I can now share with them the knowledge I have amassed to help the team to grow. We’re delivering on a variety of fronts, including Unifier-centric project controls solutions for customers in the Defence industry, the Utilities sector and more. Also, as we’re 12 months into our new life as an Employee-Owned Business, I’m working with the other Trustees to establish and hone the practices for the Trust. There really is a lot going on!

What do you like best about your job?

‘Every day is a school day’ and each day presents something new and slightly different, it’s the variety of what I get involved in that makes my job so enjoyable. It doesn’t actually feel like work, by that I mean it doesn’t feel at all like it's a chore or arduous, each day I get to work with some really great customers and the products feel much like we’re playing with Lego so we’re all lucky that we really enjoy what we do. I’ve got to say that I also love the team of people I work with, and the way I view things is that your working environment and work colleagues are absolutely an extension of your family, your work family. After all, they probably get to see you and speak to you every bit as much as your home family. I’m very proud of the work family I have at RPC and how, as a 100% Employee-Owned business, we all work equally hard to grow the business to our mutual benefit. 

What do you do in your spare time?

I have a wide range of interests and hobbies, and all are a complete shift away from my day job. I consider myself practical and mechanically minded so DIY is a regular feature as is tinkering with anything that has an engine or gears, but probably top of that tree would be my bikes. I’ve been a keen mountain biker since I got my first mountain bike back in 1990, I used to race regularly across the north of England, and I still have some of my old race numbers hanging in my shed. My idol and source of inspiration was Jason McRoy (JMC). If anyone fancies getting out for a blast, don’t hesitate to get in touch and I’ll try and keep up.

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I’m definitely a petrolhead. As a child, I was always playing with my toy cars, building Lego cars or something like that, so I always thought I’d do a job that was something to do with cars. A racing car driver, a mechanic etc. I will say that at one point in my childhood I had a toy farmyard diorama which I loved, and I remember my Mum saying that I once stood proudly on my farmyard set and proclaimed “ger orf my farm!”

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

I really look up to my dad and he’s dispensed a lot of valuable wisdom over the years, as anyone who’s met him will attest. I probably didn’t listen as hard as I could have when I was younger, but the preachings and advice he’s given me in later years I find myself regurgitating to my kids. So, it’s probably no single piece of advice, and more of an approach to life and situations that I try to emulate.... ‘Keith is smart, be like Keith’.

What’s on your desk?

Too much... but there’s a place for everything and everything in its place. The one desk adornment, I suppose, is my Ferrari World mug which was brought back to me by my dad and mum after one of their many trips abroad to Abu Dhabi. 

How do you like your tea?

Yorkshire Tea (as if that needs to be a question!?) but it should be dark with a couple of sweeteners, no space for fortnightly tea here.

Dog or cat?

Most definitely dog. As I mentioned earlier, we have 2 of them, Chester and Harry, both Cockapoos. Chester is 5 years old and clearly my dog, named after Chester Bennington, which also gives away some of my musical taste. Chester kept me sane during those lockdowns as I'd take him for some long and remote walks. Harry is just 2 years old, named by our dogs’ groomer after Harry Potter, he truly fits the “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good” quote. In our house the divide is that Chester is my dog and Harry is shared between my wife and the kids. 

If your house was on fire, what 3 things would you save?

In no particular order, Chester (ok, both dogs), my bikes, but that may take a while as I have 4 (n+1 is the biking rule) and I suppose the wife and kids, everything else is just stuff. Oh, and there’s absolutely no proof that the fire started because of my iffy DIY skills, right?

What would your superpower be?

I’m a big MCU fan so there’s lots of inspiration that I could take from there, however my superpower would have to take after Robin Williams’ Genie from Aladdin. I try and be as generous and giving as I can, and the ability to grant wishes would really make me happy as well as, I’m sure, those who make the wishes.