The People

Francis Ball

Director - Non Executive Chairman

Francis's first board appointment, at the age of 37 and after thirteen years with Marks and Spencer, was as Trading Director of Littlewoods Chain Stores. He progressed through Operations Director to Managing Director of the Chain Stores Division before taking on the Group role of Business Development Director in 1989. Having set up Littlewoods Trading in Russia in 1990, Francis established a joint venture with Price Club, the founder of the US Warehouse Club phenomenon, and became CEO of Price Club UK Limited in 1993. That same year, Costco took over Price Club worldwide, and Francis took the Operations Director's role in the enlarged UK entity, rising to Managing Director of Costco Wholesale UK Limited in 2004. In 2006, Francis retired from Costco to take up a portfolio of responsibilities including Chairman of Monitor Marketing Limited, Director of Chesmait Limited and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Until 2010 he was also Chairman of the Federation of Wholesale Distributors.

Sam Rudder 

Director - CEO

Having graduated in 1979 from Cambridge University, Sam trained as an accountant with Price Waterhouse. He then moved into Advertising starting in McCann Erickson and became the youngest ever Board Director of Ted Bates at the age of 27. He spent a further 12 years on the boards of other global marketing communication companies such as Dorlands and Lintas before founding The Hub in 1995. He once quantified that in his 15 years in advertising he managed over £156m of advertising spend from over 40 odd global advertisers such as Unilever, DHL and Heinz.

Sam has been Chief Executive of The Hub since it was founded and has been proud to drive the pioneering digital positioning of the company. The numerous awards garnered by The Hub are testament to Sam and the team's ability to consistently anticipate new media business opportunities and successfully help their clients reap the benefits of new media technology.

Paul Marciandi 

Director - Finance

Paul qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen, after obtaining a degree in Economics from Southampton University. His Day 1 involvement in a leveraged buy-out via Candover in 1986 was concluded with a satisfactory return to shareholders in 1990. He was subsequently appointed Finance Director of BRL Hardy Europe, Australian wine makers, who had grown from zero presence in the UK in 1990 to become Europe's leading wine brand with sales over £150m.

Richard Wildman 

Director - Non Executive

Richard is a former senior partner at Accenture, the world’s leading management consultancy and technology firm. Richard led the UK and European practices at Accenture and was a member of Accenture’s global retail management board as Director of Growth & Strategy. Richard is currently on the UK management board of a mobile relationship marketing business, a new sports coaching venture and is providing board advice and support to other entrepreneurial businesses.