The Executive Team

Nicholas Charles - Director

Nick is a founding partner of Lister Charles Recruitment and has been in recruitment since 1987, beginning his career with Jubilee Catering Agency as a chef recruiter.

Contact Nick at nick@lister-charles.co.uk

Mark Sykes - Director

Mark joined Lister Charles, as a Director, in June 2003. Prior to joining Lister Charles Mark held various executive positions within large scale companies including Operations Director with Tesco plc and Business Development Director within Compass Group plc.

Mark has extensive change management and business development experience and manages the day-to-day 'non recruitment' aspects of Lister Charles.

Contact Mark at mark@lister-charles.co.uk

Penny Cook - Director Retail Division

Penny joined Lister Charles  in September 2002 to open Lister Charles' first Regional Office in Bristol as Branch Manager and was promoted to the position of Regional Director in August 2004. In 2006 Penny was promoted into the role of Director Retail Division to head up Lister Charles' flourishing and most recently launched division.  Prior to joining Lister Charles, Penny managed the permanent recruitment team at Berkeley Scott in Bristol, and previous to this she worked for Roche Recruitment as a consultant – her first step into recruitment.

Penny's early career was spent in Country House Hotels, working abroad, travelling, and finally as part of the opening management team for Center Parcs in Wiltshire before embarking on a career in recruitment. Penny lives near Bristol and enjoys mountain biking, skiing and walking.

Contact Penny at penny@lister-charles.co.uk

The Recruitment Team

Charlotte McCarter - Head of Permanent Recruitment

Charlotte joined the Restaurant and Retail Division at Lister Charles London in January 2005 as a Recruitment Consultant. Prior to joining Lister Charles the majority of Charlotte's career, (following her BA in Acting), had been with Tootsies Restaurant Group with whom she started in 1999 as a General Manager at their South Kensington Branch. Charlotte took to recruitment at breakneck speed and soon became a highly valuable member of the team, working in partnership with a growing number of clients across a broad spectrum of the industry.

In July 2006 Charlotte was promoted to head up the Restaurant and Retail Division leading a team passionate about giving our clients exceptional service. In February 2007 Charlotte was further promoted to take the key role of Head of Permanent Recruitment at Lister Charles.

Contact Charlotte at charlotte@lister-charles.co.uk

Grant Tookey

Grant, having spent the majority of his career working in restaurants and bars in the Bristol area as well as short spells abroad and in Edinburgh, joined the Lister Charles Bristol team in 2006. Whilst in operations, Grant gained valuable experience in senior management roles working for both independents and branded operations such as Browns Restaurants and Belgo (Signature Restaurants). Living in Bristol, Grant has a keen interest in football and improving his knowledge of red wines from around the globe. Grant's role at Lister Charles Bristol is focused on Hotels and Chefs within the West Country.

Contact Grant at grant@lister-charles.co.uk

Steve Carroll

Steve joined the Retail Team in Bristol as a Senior Recruitment Consultant in March 2007 and was promoted to National Accounts Manager in August 2007. His background is in retail management both as a Senior Store Manager and Area Manager. At a relatively young age Steve embarked on a career with Tesco plc, at 18 he became a Manager and after several years progressed to Store Manager of Woolworths, managing several top stores before moving into fashion ultimately with Arcadia in a field role. Steve joined Lister Charles Retail having been in recruitment for some time so brings some valuable experience to the team at Lister Charles.

Steve’s interests include football, horse-riding, most sports and socializing with friends and family.

Contact Steve at stevecarroll@lister-charles.co.uk

Charlotte Gossage

Lotte joined Lister Charles Retail in November 2006. She moved into recruitment after working in the events industry following a degree gained in Hospitality Management. Latterly Lotte has worked in 5* Resorts in the UK and America.

Lotte has travelled extensively, including over 4 years teaching in Japan followed by a volunteer project in Malaysia. Being a keen photographer, travelling through Asia has given Lotte the chance to fuel her passion! Her travels have also taken her to Australia where she worked in retail and hospitality.

Contact Lotte at charlottegossage@lister-charles.co.uk

Katy Dovey

Katy joined Lister Charles Retail based in Bristol in June 2007. Katy worked & lived in London for five years supplying restaurants with exotic meats! Wanting to move back to the country, she worked in further sales positions for wine & meat companies developing the Bath & Bristol area & most recently managed a restaurant in Bath. She is a passionate foodie and her main goal in life is to one day secure a table at El Bulli!

Contact Katy at katy@lister-charles.co.uk

Elly Motherwell

Elly joined Lister Charles in July 2006 initially joining the Restaurants and Retail Division as a Recruitment Consultant. In December 2007 Elly was promoted to the position of Senior Recruitment Consultant to head up Lister Charles Contract Catering Division. Prior to coming into recruitment in 2003, Elly worked with All Bar One for several years working up to the position of Opening General Manager.

Elly is a sports enthusiast and proudly represented the England Cross Country team on numerous occasions.

Contact Elly at elly@lister-charles.co.uk

Alex Pritchard

Alex, having spent 10 years working in restaurants and pubs around London, joined the London based Retail and Contract Catering division in February 2008.  He was most recently General Manager with Carluccio’s.  Alex enjoys cooking and “researching” the food quality on offer in establishments across South East England. 

Contact Alex at alexp@lister-charles.co.uk

Oliver Drury

Olli joined Lister Charles London in March 2007. Prior to moving to Lister Charles, Olli worked for Mitchell’s and Butler's on their graduate scheme for 2 years as an Assistant Manager at various Nicolson’s pubs in Central London. Before joining M&B Olli graduated from the University of Manchester and joined straight from Uni. His early career saw him serving drinks, making cocktails, cooking food and washing dishes etc in bars, kitchens and at a whole load of different events all over England and Europe!

Olli has an unhealthy obsession with skiing and loves wakeboarding and waterskiing (when it's warm!)

Contact Olli at olli@lister-charles.co.uk

Victoria Owen

Victoria joined Lister Charles Birmingham as Senior Consultant in January 2007. Having spent 6 years in recruitment, most recently in the housing sector, Victoria feels that she has undergone something of a homecoming by arriving at Lister Charles. Her Hospitality career in Conference & Events, as well as in HR at Moat House Hotels, stood her in good stead for a 2 year position with Berkeley Scott in Cambridge.

Contact Victoria at victoria@lister-charles.co.uk

Dawn Haldane

Margot Gordon

Margot joined the Licensed Retail Division at Lister Charles London in June 2007. Originally from New Zealand, Margot has spent the last 20 years living in London and now considers it her home. During the last 15 years Margot opened bars, pubs and restaurants for various companies and felt that the time had come for a new challenge and saw Lister Charles as the perfect opportunity to make a career change whilst still remaining in the business.

In her spare time Margot believes in healthy and unhealthy pursuits in equal measure!

Contact Margot at margot@lister-charles.co.uk

Sarah Lawler

Sarah joined the team at Lister Charles Manchester in July 2007. After ten very enjoyable years in the hospitality industry Sarah felt the time had come to move on to something new and exciting so joined the team at Lister Charles in Manchester. Over the years Sarah have worked for SFI, Living Ventures, Barclub and Tootsies Restaurant Group. During this time she has met some wonderful people within the companies and is greatly enjoying her career at Lister Charles.

Contact Sarah at sarah@lister-charles.co.uk

Edward Olszak

Ted joined Lister Charles in July 2007, he moved into recruitment after several years in Operations including roles as Regional Director with Old English Inns & Hotels, Business Development Manager with Greene King - Inns and Hotels Division and more recently Operations Executive with Mill House Inns running the new Hotel Division for them.

Ted has extensive knowledge in the Hotel and Licensed Pub Restaurant Industry and now heads the permanent recruitment side of the Business at Lister Charles Cambridge.

Living near the Suffolk coast Ted enjoys Cooking and Dining being spoilt for choice with the tremendous array of fresh food produced in the area; he also enjoys Golf, Walking, Cycling and renovating his cottage.

Contact Ted at edward@lister-charles.co.uk

Kevin Hall

Kevin joined Lister Charles Retail in November 2007. Kevin has worked and lived in Bristol for five years having moved from Guildford. He has a strong retail background having worked as a Manager for Tesco Stores and Tesco Distribution for nearly ten years as well as experiencing several store formats across the South East and South West.

Kevin joined Lister Charles having employed and developed staff within the Tesco group and was looking to branch out his skill base.

In his spare time Kevin enjoys cycling and Rugby and spending time with his partner and children.

Contact Kevin at kevin@lister-charles.co.uk