Our People

Group Directors

Andrew Sweeney

Chief Executive  & Founder Director (1991 – current)

Andrew Sweeney is a founder member and Chief Executive of The Best Connection Group. His academic achievements include a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University of Liverpool and an MBA from the University of Aston.   After four years with a firm of Chartered Accountants in Birmingham, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1981, Andy went on to develop his skills and entrepreneurial flair in business accountancy roles at Ladbroke plc and United Trade Press before launching a financial management consultancy which he operated for four years.   This became the springboard for the formation of The Best Connection Group in 1991 with co-directors, Neil Yorke and Martin Recci.

 

 

Neil Yorke

Founder Director (1991 – current)

Neil is a co-founder and Director of The Best Connection Group.  Born in Birmingham and educated at King Edward’s Five Ways School, Neil’s passion for business led him to pursue a degree in Business Studies.  After he graduated with a BA Honours degree Neil joined a firm of Chartered Accountants in Birmingham as an articled clerk and after qualifying joined a leading financial recruitment company as financial controller.  He later took on the finance director role at a software development company.

In 1988 Neil and Andy started their own management consultancy business which undertook a number of varying assignments ranging from an IT recruitment business to systems implementation at an electricity generating company.  They pooled their skills and energies and in 1991, along with Martin Recci, launched The Best Connection employment group.  Neil takes a leading role in day to day operational management, communications and strategy.

 

 The Best Connection Directors

 

 

Darren Ainge

Darren began his career in the recruitment industry when he was 19 following a short spell in the insurance sector working for a local broker.  He joined The Best Connection in 1998 with the remit of opening the company’s 9th branch in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent.  Over the years that followed his career continued to flourish in the business and in 2015, alongside his other regional manager colleagues, Darren was appointed a Director of The Best Connection Group.  As well as maintaining his existing branch portfolio, he is responsible for the Group’s first location in Scotland, which opened in April 2017.

 

 

 

Darren Pollard

Darren had been working in the recruitment sector for a year prior to joining The Best Connection in October 1992 when the business was only 18-months old and operated from a single branch in Tyseley, Birmingham.  Working on one of two Industrial desks, Darren thrived on the company’s culture of openness and honesty.  Rising to become branch manager, Darren went on to manage several branches including new greenfield sites and merging newly acquired agencies’ branches into The Best Connection Group’s own network.  Darren was appointed a Director in December 2015 and has branch responsibilities that extend from Birmingham to Truro, South Wales and Oxford. 

 

 

 

Dave Schilling

With almost 30 years’ recruitment experience within the industrial, warehouse/distribution & driving markets, Dave is currently responsible for thirteen TBC branches, with a further two new openings scheduled for 2018.  Dave began his career in the retail sector and financial services industry where he developed a passion for sales before following Martin Recci’s footsteps into recruitment.  Dave’s customer-centric ethos is based on delivering an honest, quality service and willingness to go the extra mile.  His view is that very few recruiters in the industry do an exceptional job which exceeds a client’s expectations and this is something he believes gives TBC its competitive edge.

 

 

 

Lee Harris

Lee’s career began in the Royal Navy, spending seven years as a Logistics Controller where he was assigned to four different ships.  Having travelled the world and developed essential skills, Lee pursued a career in recruitment, joining The Best Connection in 1995.  At that time, the business had just opened its 2nd branch in Walsall and Lee was quickly engaged in supporting the company’s expansion plans with branch openings occurring in quick succession in Cannock, West Bromwich and Tamworth.  Two decades later, he now has responsibility for 16 branches and numerous dedicated onsite locations.  Lee also sits on the working party groups for National Sales, Key Accounts and Onsite Connection.