Neil brings over 24 years’ experience in fibre and telecoms to his role as CEO at Freedom Fibre. As CEO and founder of Opal Telecom in the 1980s, Neil led its merger with Carphone Warehouse to create TalkTalk in 2002 and then ran its technology division for 8 years. In 2018, he became CEO of Fibre Nation, a fibre to the premises (FTTP) start-up backed by TalkTalk which was acquired by CityFibre in March 2020 for £200m. He is a member of the Board of Governors and Finance Committee of the University of Manchester, and a founder member of the Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership. Neil is also founder and chairman of Manchester Tech Trust and Hamilton Davies Trust.

Marie is responsible for leading service operations within Freedom Fibre, working with our partners to ensure their customers receive the highest levels of customer service. Previously Marie was Service Director at TalkTalk plc leading the end-to-end service operations function as well as being responsible for delivering an improved front line customer experience strategy.  With over 20 years of experience in the UK telecoms industry, she is passionate about developing a customer-centric business culture and her people-focused approach to driving business performance.  

Lesley leads the human resources and development team and is responsible for all HR functions within Freedom Fibre. With over 20 years of HR experience working in the oil & gas, environmental, and nuclear industries, she uses her skill set to drive Freedom Fibre’s HR strategy and recommends appropriate people management solutions to support the company’s overall vision and strategic objectives. With a passion for all things ‘people,’ Lesley is committed to developing a fully integrated HR service and delivering this at an organisational, functional, and customer level, and works closely with her team to position Freedom Fibre as an employer of choice.

Tony Moore is leading the fibre network roll out programme for Freedom Fibre. He brings a wealth of experience in programme delivery having previously led one of the largest environmental restoration programmes – a multi-billion pound project – in the UK. Before joining Freedom Fibre he was Construction Programme Director at FibreNation responsible for the roll-out of FTTP across a number of cities and was successful in driving down costs and the time to connect customers, achieving some of the fastest build cycle times in the industry. His desire is to continue to reduce the time and cost to roll out   to ensure that hi-speed broadband can be more readily accessible and affordable to all.

David is responsible for the overall design, operation and innovation of our network. He boasts over 35 years of extensive telecoms experience in the service provider, altnet and equipment vendor sectors. Recently, he was responsible for the architecture, transformation and design of solutions for the core access and orchestration layers of a key UK Service provider network. He utilised future-proof SDN solutions and implemented a true IP-enabled end-to-end network to deliver the first complete UK FTTP solution. Previously, he has held Technical Director roles for several suppliers covering access, voice, data and management products, working with Tier 1 service providers to deliver next-generation solutions.

Adele Cihlar is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience, 13 of which were in the Telecoms industry within BT, where she has held multiple roles both operational and transformational. Skilled in methodologies like Lean, Six Sigma, and Agile, Adele has held pivotal roles at BT, The Co Op and Cummins Engines. Adele's leadership has resulted in significant growth, cost savings, and enhanced customer experiences. She's adept at consultancy, managing technical teams, and executing complex initiatives. With a degree in Engineering and BQF credentials in Lean and Six Sigma, Adele combines her vast expertise with a strong educational background to drive excellence.

Darren is responsible for Finance, HR and central support services along with investor relations. He has worked across a range of sectors including telecoms, asset rental, manufacturing, and professional services in large and small organisations, as well as internationally, often in PE-backed businesses. With almost 15 years’ operating at CFO level, he brings the experience of leading mergers, acquisitions, IT implementations, restructuring and outsourcing programmes. Prior to joining Freedom Fibre, he was CFO at FibreNation. 

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Rick is responsible for leading the risk and compliance functions within Freedom Fibre, as well as looking after the Enterprise IT and security functions. He brings over 20 years of telecoms experience, and a deep understanding of enterprise risk and information security, having implemented software and security management systems for global businesses. He has an excellent mix of business and technical knowledge, bridging the gap between the various functions in our customer-focused business. He is passionate about security and ensuring that it is an activity that is ‘bottom up’ and not ‘top down’ driven in an organisation.

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