Mobile phones pioneer June Reynolds-Lacey dies at 59
WELL-known entrepreneur June Reynolds-Lacey has passed away suddenly following a short battle with cancer. She was 59.
Ms Reynolds-Lacey was executive chairman and owner of Coleshill-based Box Telematics.
Her husband David, a director, has pledged to carry on the business in the way that June would have wished.
She was a well-known businesswoman and entrepreneur who founded a company called NSH Technolgistics (then called UK Mobile Phones) in 1989 with the help of a loan of £60,000, using her Jensen sports car as collateral.
The company became the UK’s first service provider for the Orange Network ten years later, allowing it to offer SMS and data services worldwide.
The business, subsequently re-named NSH (National Service Hub) was a service provider to Nokia. The business was so successful that it was listed in the Sunday Times Fast Track awards and Ms Reynolds-Lacey was the Midlands region winner in Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in 2001.
She set up Box Telematics 12 years ago to provide systems for collecting data and monitoring assets.
The business, which has sales of £10m and 90 employees, has won a number of awards for technology businesses including the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Rising Star award in 2004 and being named in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100.
David Reynolds-Lacey said: “At this sad time, it is difficult to know what to say but I would like to thank all our colleagues, customers and suppliers, for there has already been an outpouring of sympathy, support and commitment.
“We will be driving our business forward as a tribute to June’s fantastic achievement in building it up and we intend to remain independent and to grow our business as a mark of respect to June’s memory.”
Prior to founding the business, Ms Reynolds-Lacey worked as a hotel chef. She then became a chauffeur to a merchant banker and it was he who encouraged her to set up her own business.
