Joanna Swash was recruited as Moneypenny’s first sales person 13 years ago – today she is managing director of a business that has grown to employ more than 550 people and turnover £25m.

The company, which has seen 20% year-on-year growth, appointed an M&A and strategy director a year ago – a sign of things to come as it looks to further ramp up growth.

Joanna, who took over as MD in October last year having previously been commercial director, is our next speaker at TheBusinessDesk’s women’s lunch series, where she will talk through he own career journey and how she grew with the business she is so passionate about.

The company moved to its swish new purpose build £15m headquarters in Wrexham – complete with a tree house meeting room, village pub and a sun terrace – just over a year ago and that has been integral to the development of its strong work culture.

Joanna will talk through some of this Top 100 Employer’s initiatives – from encouraging staff to socialise at the in-house pub, to the provision of healthy breakfasts for all staff.

She will demonstrate that as well as being the right thing to do, this approach has tangible business benefits. The impact that this approach has had on staff morale, sickness and retention, makes Moneypenny an exception in an industry traditionally blighted by high levels of churn.