Freedom
Rich Payne has extensive work experience in various roles within the operations and management sector. Rich started their career at Yorkshire Electricity in 1987 and worked in various roles until 2000. Rich then joined QC Data as a Project Manager for an electricity utility before working their way up to Senior Operations Manager in the gas sector. In 2005, they moved to Freedom Group where they served as the Senior Operations Manager for Utilities Data Management and later as the Operations Director for Telco. In 2011, they briefly worked as the Operations Manager for Overhead Lines before becoming the Operations Director for the Professional Services Division. The exact end dates for some of their roles are not provided.
From 1987 to 1989, Rich Payne attended Leeds City College where they pursued a BTEC ONC in Business & Finance.
Freedom
The Freedom Beginning Founded in 1996 with an entrepreneurial management buyout from Yorkshire Electricity, Freedom has grown significantly with over 600 direct employees and twenty offices in the UK and Western Europe. In April 2018 we were acquired by NG Bailey Group (www.ngbailey.co.uk), one of the UK’s largest independent engineering, IT and facilities services businesses. The knowledge and relationships we have developed over the past 20 years combined with NG Bailey’s innovative approach to large engineering and services projects, provides a strong platform for sustained growth for both companies. Our Customers Our end-to-end approach brings many benefits to our clients and it allows us to add value to our customers’ operations, thereby delivering real customer service. We have many longstanding customer relationships, indeed our grounds maintenance contract with Yorkshire Water may be the longest continuous maintenance contract in the UK utilities market. Freedom is seeing a growth in opportunities with customers outside the traditional utility, nuclear and renewable energy sectors, both in the UK and in Western Europe. At the forefront is: construction and property, transport infrastructure, industrial and manufacturing, technology and the public sector. Our Employees Freedom recruits, trains and develops its employees in a wide variety of disciplines. From highly technical electrical, civil and security system engineers and designers, to field staff maintaining and installing electrical equipment, overhead lines and underground cabling – the skill range is immense. As well as finance, IT, HR, procurement, business development and other commercial functions, we have specialists in such disciplines as aerial and below ground surveying, inspections and mapping as well as emergency call-out teams in case of storm damage to power supplies, for example.