Penny Wheatley

Role

As Marketing and Business Liaison Co-ordinator my role is to analyse the needs of the South West Region's business community and identify potential new business and public sector clients. I build business and public sector partnerships for the University, exploring and identifying opportunities for long term working relationships. I am responsible for creating business partnerships with appropriate teams of experts within the University of Plymouth. My long term role is to ensure that our relationship with our client companies remains "live" and that decisionmakers within those companies consider us to be a primary source of expertise and resource to suit their business needs.

I increase awareness of the Univesity's services to business by identifying and exploiting opportunities for internal and external marketing events. I have developed and maintain the University's Business Enquiry Service, whose freephone number (0800 052 5600) is widely publicised.  Amongst other activities, I am currently involved with the development and launch of the University of Plymouth Business / Employers Forum.

Qualifications & background

I joined the University of Plymouth in 1992, after nearly 25 years of valuable commercial sales and marketing experience. Much of that experience was gained in the publishing industry, both within the UK and overseas. Immediately before joining the University, I successfully ran my own business (setting up and maintaining archiving systems for the legal profession).

My higher education started in the Law Faculty at Southampton University, to which I have subsequently added a diploma course in Business Administration and a Chartered Institute of Marketing Diploma. I am a member of CIM and my key skills relate to effective marketing of the University's expertise and resources for increased profit and competitiveness in the business and public sector community - I have particular skills in business needs analysis, client relationship management, project management, presentation skills and negotiation skills.

It is widely acknowledged that I can sell "ice to the eskimos".

My early career in the publishing industry was with Time Life International Inc. based in London, Johannesburg, Cape Town, New York and Boston and my management roles within Time, Fortune and Life magazines covered production, circulation and advertising sales. I left Time Life International from their London office, the printing unions having established a strangle hold and I considered it time for a change. I set up the London marketing and sales office for Handelblatt, the Hannover stock exchange broadsheet and managed the office until meeting and marrying in 1973 my Royal Marine husband. Thereafter, it was a case of taking what I could get in the way of work at our many postings, so I decided to use my legal training as the basis of a new career in archiving for the legal profession, running my own successful business from the mid-80s until joining the University of Plymouth in 1992 when my business partner retired and I felt it time for another change of direction.

My career within the University of Plymouth has evolved into one that is closely aligned with commercial marketing and the majority of the past 14 years I have created and nurtured many longterm successful business partnerships for the University.

Professional membership

Chartered Institute of Marketing

Roles on external bodies

Rural Business Community

South Hams District Council Sounding Board
Business in the Community
Business Action on Homelessness