Former TCG Production House (TPH) managing director Nick Pride-Hearn has joined south London's SR Communications as managing director of direct mail.


His appointment was designed to free up chairman John Burbidge so he can concentrate on group strategy.


"You must have key directors who own the company but those directors can't deliver unless there's senior management in place as well," said Pride-Hearn.


Pride-Hearn left TPH, the Crawley-based production house owned by direct marketing agency WWAV-Rapp Collins, last June and has completed his gardening leave. He had been with the firm for four years.


"The next logical stage for me was to develop and expand [TPH] but it was a minority interest in WWAV and it wasn't very high up the pecking order when it came to investment and growth plans," he said. But he claimed to be pleasantly surprised with the set-up at SR.


"You can count the number of operations like this that run to [quality standard] ISO9001 on the fingers of one rather mutilated hand," he said.


Story by Lauretta Roberts