Francis is the founder of VERLING CONSULTING , a management consulting practice based in Blackrock Co. Louth. Francis has over ten years experience in working with start-up and high-growth SMEs on all aspects of business development and twenty two years experience in business. He has extensive experience in business development, sales & marketing, new product / service development for SMEs and owner manager businesses.
Francis is an experienced trainer in the areas of Marketing, Selling, Presenting, Project Management and Innovation. He has delivered training, coaching and mentoring for a large number of private and public sector organisations including; Cavan, Louth, Meath, Monaghan, Westmeath County Enterprise Boards, Dublin Institute of Technology, IADT Dun Laoghaire, Craft Northern Ireland, Crafts Council of Ireland and Scottish Enterprise.
Prior to establishing VERLING CONSULTING, Francis worked with Brilliant Red Consulting as a senior consultant. Prior to this, Francis was head of the Creative Industries Team at Scottish Enterprise Glasgow. While at Scottish Enterprise Francis gained extensive experience of business development in SMEs, project management, economic development and developed a network within UK enterprise agencies.
Since moving back to Ireland he has built on this network especially with County Enterprise Boards, InterTradeIreland and deepening relationships within Enterprise Ireland. Prior to joining Scottish Enterprise Glasgow, he was Head of Design at Edinburgh Crystal where he was responsible for design and new product development- out-sourced and manufactured.
His professional background is in Industrial Design/Engineering – working for Howmedia/ Striker in Limerick and Waterford Crystal, where he has had extensive experience in making contributions to the strategy of these companies. At all points in his career Francis has been involved with Academic Institutions including University of Strathclyde-Glasgow on the Industrial Advisory Panel- Department of Management & Engineering Design, Glasgow School of Art/Glasgow University on the Industrial Liaison Board, School of Design-Product Design, and Edinburgh College of Art/Wolverhampton College of Art where he was a Master of Design tutor. Francis has previously lectured at Queens University, Belfast.
