Meet the team

Name: Yvonne Coonan

Role: Sales & Management

Expertise: Yvonne has over 18 years experience working in the environmental research and monitoring sector. During this time she has become an expert in sampling & research equipment. She regularly demonstrates window sampling sets, drilling rigs and augers and can often be found in her overalls and wellies, knee deep in mud. Yvonne is a busy working mum and spends her free time looking after her daughter, Amanda and socialising with friends.

yvonne@vanwalt.com

Name: Ikky Izagaren

Role: Sales & Customer Relations

Expertise: Ikky is usually the first person you reach when you call Van Walt. She has spent her time at Van Walt developing her equipment knowledge and getting to know you – our customers - better. Celebrated in the office for remembering everyone and everything she is the font of all knowledge when it comes to finding the right equipment and if she can't help - she knows 'a person who can'.

ikky@vanwalt.com

Name: Tom Stone

Role: Technical Sales & Rental Support

Expertise: Tom is Van Walt's equipment guru and knows all there is to know about pumps, water quality meters, remediation equipment and more! He spends most of his time with customers either on the phone, online or on-site! He’s your first point of call if you have a question or query about Van Walt equipment. As well as being an enthusiastic regular at his local and a keen sports fan, Tom is worryingly obsessed with finding the ‘ultimate pump’ and often dreams about inventing a pump that will purge deeper, for longer and in the most hostile of conditions or, alternatively, scoring a century for England at Lords!

tom@vanwalt.com

Name: Amanda Skelding

Role: Sales Support & Administration

Expertise: Originally from the Black Country and with a degree in Business Management from Worcester University, Amanda brings much theory, business hospitality and ‘joie de vie’ to her  role at Van Walt. Whether you are a regular to Van Walt or a first time customer it’s Amanda’s role to act as your guide, taking details, establishing how we can help and directing you to the right person – all done with an enthusiasm we’re determined she must keep. Amanda also deals with your courier queries, sales ledger admin and all documentation – whatever you may throw at her when she picks up the phone! Outside of work her heart lies in the country: walking her dog and horse riding. What’s even better is if she can combine that with socialising with her many friends!

amanda@vanwalt.com

Name: Darshana Shah

Role: Internal Systems & Procedures Analyst

Expertise: They say an army runs on its stomach, well a business runs on its data, systems and processes. Darshana, with her MBA (and studying for CIMA) background in finance and accounting, works on improving and developing our internal business processes and ISO compliance. A slick back office enables the rest of us to concentrate on customer facing roles – product knowledge, understanding of our customers’ needs and ensuring you get the right equipment, on time and on budget. Darshana loves cooking, listening to music, travel and being with family and friends.

darshana@vanwalt.com

Name: Lewis Irvine

Role: Equipment Technician

Expertise: Lewis has a background in engineering, hydraulics and mechanics. Based in our warehouse and rental equipment room Lewis is responsible for supporting the rental team by ensuring all equipment is cleaned, checked and logged on return from site, then re-calibrated and tested before dispatch to our customers. He likes nothing better than dismantling, removing, measuring, examining, assembling and replacing components in equipment, engines and machines. In his free time Lewis can be found with his head in his motorbike engine or motocross enduro racing – life has got a lot faster here at Van Walt!

lewis@vanwalt.com

Name: Vincent van Walt

Role: Managing Director, Technical & Field Sales

Expertise: Vincent has many years experience in the environmental field – more than he is prepared to admit to! More than 25 years ago he and Kaja, his wife, established Van Walt to fill a gap in the market for equipment that provides consistent, accurate results - equipment that sets the standard for soil and groundwater monitoring and research. Today he remains equally as committed and still spends the majority of his time sharing his expertise on groundwater field techniques, percussion drilling, soil moisture measurement and mineral exploration with customers at home and abroad. As an enthusiastic sailor he has learnt to appreciate the combination of quality and craftsmanship to create something that is both functional and beautiful.

vincent@vanwalt.com

Name: Tracey Daley

Role: Marketing

Expertise: Tracey provides marketing input to help establish customer needs, improve customer communications, increase our web presence and develop the Van Walt brand so more businesses know about us, our equipment, the training we offer and our depth of expertise. With a constantly improving product range and growing list of new, innovative products there is a consistent requirement to ‘spread the word’ and to keep customers - loyal, prospects and yet-to-commit - up-to-date with all things Van Walt. And, like the rest of the team, Tracey is always very keen to receive your feedback and suggestions regarding anything you would like to receive or see from us.

tracey@vanwalt.com

Name: John Bolton

Role: Sales Engineer

Expertise: John joins us with vast experience in the drilling and geo-environmental fields around the globe and has spent the last decade or so specialising in promoting the Diver in the UK and Ireland. His role at Van Walt is to develop the water level logger and telemetry services in the UK and Ireland. John, who is based in the North East, plans to spend his time out on the road visiting customers and building our share of the growing remote, offsite measurement of water level data market, where accuracy is vital. Having travelled the world John now prefers to spend his free time at home, with his family and, when asked, cites his favourite pastime as ‘walking my dogs’.

John.bolton@vanwalt.com

Name: Gary House

Role: Rental & Repair Technician

Expertise: Gary House, with extensive experience in precision engineering, warehousing, logistics and stores, joins the Van Walt rental and repair team. He is getting to grips with our equipment, from basic cleaning and maintenance through to complex repairs and calibration checks, so he can give full technical support to customers onsite, online and by phone. In his spare time, Gary is a Hampshire Special Constable of more than 13 years and a self-confessed conspiracy theorist, leaning more to the ancient historical based variety.  Unsurprisingly his taste in books and films leans towards fact-based accounts – no Da Vinci theories for him!

gary@vanwalt.com