Stuart Ingleby

Background

About Stuart Ingleby

I used to be the Co Director with my wife Siggy and colleagues Mandy Jeewooth and Ahmed Deshmukh of Specsavers in Blackburn. At the time of selling my business we were one of the oldest Specsavers practices in the Granada area. We had grown from one consulting room and 6 staff, to 10 consulting rooms, plus two audiology rooms. We had over 80 staff. We saw over 650 -700 eye examinations per week, over 200 contact lens appointments per week and 100 Hearcare appointments per week. Over the last 30+ years, we had developed nearly 20 new Joint Venture Partners, trained 25 optometrists. 15 Dispensing Opticians and 5 Contact lens dispensing opticians. Our credo was to get the team to be the best they could be, develop and train, develop and train, develop and train. Watch them grow, some leave the nest, some even return. I worked on the East Lancs Local Optical Committee, working with local hospitals in developing and implementing a hugely successful shared care program. I sat on this committee for almost 20 years. Within Specsavers, I represented the joint venture partners at the local level as their area chairman, and then worked as the head of all regional shares within Specsavers in the United Kingdom. From this, I sat on the UK Specsavers Operating Board for two years, working out of Guernsey and mainland centres, supporting the partnerships in new projects, and supporting the partners specifically in the practices in developing their businesses. Over the last 10 years I worked as a Specsavers Partner Mentor, developing new partners in the group. Further to this, I supported the Pathway Partnership Development Program, the program that prospective new directors worked on prior to being able to apply for available practices.