"Product Innovation is core to our business -
its one of the principal reasons we’re so successful in so many different product sectors"
Matthew Nicholls - Managing Director
Dr Andrew Hudson
Dr Andrew Hudson
Sales Director
It was a bright day when the future young doctor was born in post war Germany. From a young age, Dr Hudson dazzled his family with his extrovert performance skills, some say he was the German answer to the late King himself. His exuberance for performance was tempered by his second love... Chemistry and the singing doctor trademark was soon born.
Andrew was born in Yorkshire where he gained a First Class Honours Degree in Chemistry. During his degree he spent a year working at Peugeot’s Research Centre in France where he gained a Diploma in Industrial Studies with Distinction. Following this he successfully undertook a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Dresden, Germany, where his ground-breaking research was adopted by a leading German technical textile company. Consultancy for this company led to a position being offered and accepted in their innovations team.
After 6 years in Germany, Andrew moved back to the UK in 1998 and began his career in leather working for BLC Leather Technology Centre. Initially this was in private research contracts for leather and associated companies, but he saw an opportunity to develop testing services and over 2 years increased the turnover (and profitability) by over 300%. In 2005 he accepted a position as Head of Sales and Marketing for E-Leather who had taken over £60m venture capital to create a new leather fibre based product for the aviation, automotive and footwear industry. Starting as only the 3rd employee, he helped grow the company to over 70 employees during 3 years of successful sales led product development. Following a brief spell at Next Head Office he accepted an appointment to the board of Yarwood Leather Ltd in June 2008.