Meet our 100th employee, James Neale
Welcome to James Neale, who joins us this week as our 100th employee!
James will play a key role in Principle’s growth as Senior Business Development Manager. He is Solihull born and bred, bringing local knowledge and community connections. He’s recently returned from 2.5 years in Florida, where he refined his sales skills across a number of roles.
With an impressive 12-year career as a qualified solicitor at DWF in Birmingham, James brings a unique combination of legal acumen and commercial insight to our team. His attention to detail and thorough approach – "no stone left unturned" as he puts it – will be instrumental in building strong client relationships and identifying new opportunities.
From the courtroom to centre stage
James's diverse background includes a family appearance on Britain's Got Talent in 2015. What started as his father's encouragement for James and his brothers to try something new led to an extraordinary journey. After just four weekends of practice, the family took to the stage. They reached the Britain's Got Talent semi-finals with "Father and Son", moving Simon Cowell to tears, but were narrowly beaten by a talented dog act in the finals.
James leveraged this exposure to broker a deal with Tesco that raised a six-figure sum for the British Heart Foundation through record sales, demonstrating his natural ability to turn opportunities into meaningful results.
In his new role, James will be covering Birmingham, London, plus Principle's key growth areas of Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester – territories that will benefit from his local knowledge and extensive network.
Speaking about his new role, James shared his enthusiasm: "I am excited to get to know the team and forge good working relationships and get to know our customers. I have a strong sales background and hope to bring a good network of people, dynamism and different vantage points, plus my legal skills. I'm very driven and hoping to bring this energy to both our existing customers and new clients."
Joe Jobson, Joint Managing Director at Principle, expressed his confidence in the appointment: "I feel we have the right business development team in place to continue our growth. Bringing somebody in with James's background demonstrates our commitment to hitting our goals."
James's unique blend of legal expertise, sales experience, and proven ability to think creatively makes him an ideal addition to our business development team. His drive, attention to detail, and fresh perspective will undoubtedly contribute to Principle's continued success.
Welcome to the team, James – we're excited to see what you'll achieve as we embark on this next chapter of growth together!