Meet the team
Board & Directors
Adrian Dodds
Director and Shareholder
board director and a shareholder with Sackers. He has 43 years’ experience in the industry and has overseen the growth through land purchasing and new plant implementation.
Adrian oversaw and planned operational projects within the company.
Adrian is a director and board member for the British Metals Recycling association and has held this position for over 15 years. The board are tasked with guiding the industry by tackling difficult legislation and regulations. He was president of the Southern Metals Association before that.
Adrian’s main roles and responsibilities at Sackers where:
1. Director team leader responsible for all operational functions, processing plant and sites.
2. Director team leader responsible for mechanical and parchment.
3. Director team leader responsible for transport and haulage.
4. Working as a board member.
Adrian is a born and bred Ipswich man and is married to Rosy and has 2 children William and Polly.
Ewan Dodds
Director and Shareholder
wealth of external experience in other sectors that helps to ensure Sackers is developing best practice.
Ewan is CEO of Whybrow Chartered Surveyors and Property Consultants, where he specialises in commercial and residential property disposals and acquisitions, development and investments and runs and chairs the Board. He also has significant experience in helping businesses improve their performance and providing strategic consultancy services.
Ewan is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. Additionally, Ewan is a member of the Ipswich East Rotary Club, a past President of the Colchester Chamber of Commerce and of the County Board, Colchester 2020 (Local Strategic Partnership) until 2013, Colchester Business Group and developed the proposal for the first Colchester Business Improvement District bid.
Ewan’s main roles and responsibilities at Sackers are:
• Provide guidance on the strategic direction of the business
• Monitors and challenges the performance of the business and senior management team
• Challenges and supports the Executive Directors in their day to day management of the business
• Helps assess risk management within the business
Lee Mathews
Operations Director
Lee worked for Royal Mail for 24 years, starting as a postman in Lowestoft before progressing into his first management role, leading various teams across the business. In 2013 Lee led the operational team across Norfolk and Suffolk through Royal Mail`s privatisation journey from being a public service to a FTSE100 listed commercial organisation.
On leaving Royal Mail, Lee took a year out to study full-time for his MBA at the University of Suffolk. This included an international consultancy placement in Indonesia, working with a ceramics manufacturer on business development strategies. On completing his MBA, Lee worked with Essex Wildlife Trust before moving back into the corporate world, working for DS Smith as General Manager, before securing his first role in waste management with Biffa, once again serving as General Manager.
Lee is married to Penny, lives locally in Woodbridge and loves to play golf. He is also a Norwich City fan, but we don’t like to talk about that.
Chris Gray
Executive Chairman
up an Inter-European road transport company in 1969, Chris joined Contship in early 1977 as MD of Contship UK and was later appointed as Deputy Managing Director of Contship Containerlines.
Chris is a former managing director of the port of Felixstowe and chief executive of Hutchison ports UK and Hutchison Ports Bahamas and executive chairman of Noatum Ports and Maritime.
Chris remains as a strategic advisor to Turia port management investments (holdings) CV, a company owned by JP Morgan infrastructure.
In 2017 Chris was appointed as a Director of Tex Holdings plc and was appointed as their Chairman in June 2018 and he was also appointed as Senior Independent Director of red funnel ltd and red funnel holdings ltd.
Chris is a former chairman of the UK Major Ports Group and Board Member of the Harwich Haven Authority.
Chris is married to Eunice, they have three children and live in Suffolk.
Senior Leadership Team
Alex Hall
Engineering Manager
tinkering with bikes and cars. Not long after he was offered an Apprenticeship at a local engineering firm that produced bronze alloy products.
His engineering career has given him 28 years’ experience in the metal industry but also in all aspects of engineering from welding, electrical, mechanical, heavy fabrications which saw him move into leading teams, problem solving, working on special projects and travelling all over Europe.
At Sackers, he leads a team of mechanical and electrical engineers, and coordinating workloads. He works on new and existing projects and is involved in new capex projects for efficiencies and improving production.
He enjoys engineering so much that he spends time drawing up plans on CAD for fun. Other than that he likes spending time with his family and walking his dog.
Vic Kemp
Operations Manager (Claydon)
Claydon yard as an Electric Crane driver feeding our Shear, after only a year or so he was promoted to yard foreman to allow owners David and Adrian Dodds to focus on growing sales and visiting customers.
He was then moved to the Weighbridge and became Weighbridge Manager and stayed in that role for a further 15 years. He has seen the business through many changes and has gained a variety of experience in all parts of the business which has seen him gain a lot of respect from the develop skills which has allowed him to move into an Operations role.
As an essential member of the team he has been a key holder for 22 years, a First Aider for 22 years and a fire Marshall for 18 years. He is also Mental Health First Aider and Culture Club Leader.
He bases his business philosophy on hard work, loyalty, respect and always wanting to improve in whatever he does.
His interests outside work are my family and a lifetime love of Rock Music watching live music when and wherever he can.
Clare Lanchester
Business Operations Manager
after finishing A Levels. She had a 2 year break from work entirely following the birth of her twins in 2016, returning to sackers in 2018.
Her whole career at Sackers has been spent in the shipping department where everything involved in the export process is handled in house, for example contracts, freight and haulage bookings, export documentation, documentary collections, letters of credit, trade finance facilities, credit control and compliance. She has gained and developed skills in all of these areas through experience and from working with some amazing people.
As export volumes have increased the shipping department has grown and is now a team of 3. Clare worked her way up from administrator to Manager and is proudly heads up the team. The team work hard to ensure they meet our customers requirements and provide them with an excellent shipping service. We also have longstanding, open and honest relationships with our hauliers, shipping lines and freight forwarders which we value highly.
Clare loves spending my spare time with my family and friends, playing badminton and baking a cake or two!
Kris Rose
Commercial Manager
the non-ferrous metal shed where he gained knowledge of different grades of metal and dealing with customers. He quickly progressed into different roles within the business over a ten year period and was promoted to Commercial Manager which he has been doing for the last 5 years.
Kris’ role is to purchase the scrap for the business, for both sites and ensure that the budgets and margins set are achieved each month. I also look after the sales in the UK. This role involves building long lasting relationships with existing and new suppliers and customers.
I believe honesty, reputation, hard work and trust are extremely important in business and live by that in my work every day.
In my spare time I play lots of football and if I’m not doing that, I spend time with family and friends.