About Svantek

Paul Rubens

Managing Director

Paul has extensive experience in the health, safety and environmental technology marketplaces across Europe, Asia and the Americas, and spent over ten years as Managing Director of one of the world’s most successful health, safety and environmental monitoring instrumentation companies.

He specialises in helping businesses grow into exciting new areas and has a proven track record in helping European-based businesses expand internationally and American and Asian businesses grow within Europe.

Paul also has wide-ranging experience of working with the UK government, having led an environmental trade mission for UK trade and investment to Taiwan in 2007 and the first of a new series of trade missions to China initiated by the Prime Minister in 2008. He also chaired an international working group for the Environmental Industry Commission (EIC). In 2006, Paul was a guest at Buckingham Palace at a reception for members of the UK scientific community.

He holds an honours degree in physics, an HND in electronics and a diploma in mathematics.

Aidan Hubbard

Sales Director

Aidan joined Svantek UK in early 2016 when we moved to our new offices near Bedford and brings significant commercial experience to this sales position.

Aidan spent 11 years in a variety of roles with leading power tools supplier, Cooks of Bedford, including E-Commerce Manager where he was responsible for eight members of staff, and helped the department grow to become 50% of the company’s total turnover.

“Svantek is an impressive company with market leading products and exciting prospects, and I am thrilled to to be leading the team at this key point in its growth story,” comments Aidan

“Aidan has all the credentials we require in a Sales Director and will strengthen Svantek & AcSoft’s presence in their main target markets,” he concludes.

John Shelton

Technical Director

John Shelton holds an Honours degree in Acoustical Engineering, and a Masters degree in Sound & Vibration Studies, from ISVR in Southampton.

After a short time developing loudspeakers at Goodmans, he joined Bruel & Kjaer UK as an area sales engineer. Over the nine years that followed, he specialised in sound intensity and source location techniques, as well as managing technical sales across the UK.

Two years at Brüel & Kjær in Denmark gave him experience in VXI-based virtual instrumentation, and whetted his appetite for software measurement solutions, taking responsibility for worldwide sales & marketing.

Svantek UK was formed in 2011 as a sister company to AcSoft Ltd to expand the market for this high-quality range of hand-held instruments.

John is an active member of the Institute of Acoustics and sits on several national committees and working groups on measurement & instrumentation.

A keen racing dinghy sailor, John has won several National & European titles on the water and is also a keen flat-earth audiophile.

Aaron Priestley

Sales Specialist

Aaron joins Svantek UK from testing, inspection and certification business, British Engineering Services, where he spent five years in a variety of sales and customer service roles, most recently as Business Development Manager.

“I feel like I am joining Svantek UK at an exciting time,” comments Aaron. “I am looking forward to working with the rest of the team and developing sales in the North.”

Having become an integral part of the Svantek UK sales team, Aaron is also responsible for developing health & safety sales in the UK.

George Jocelyn

Senior Applications Engineer

George joins Svantek UK from a previous role as an Acoustic Engineer, where he built up extensive industry knowledge in acoustics design, engineering and contracting.

His role with focus on developing sales within the south east.

“Svantek is changing the market in sound and vibration and I’m extremely excited to be part of the team working alongside some fantastic colleagues” comments George.

Debra Gill

Business Development Executive

As a business development executive with a marketing background Debra brings experience and expertise to the team of Svantek UK. Beginning her career in finance and then telecom sales, she demonstrated a talent for building strong relationships with clients. Transitioning into business development she has had a successful track record of success in creating business growth and mentoring young professionals.

In her current role as a business development executive for Svantek UK, she is looking forward to identifying and building new opportunities. Overall, she is results-driven, a strategic thinker who is passionate about helping companies achieve their goals. Having worked for the company before, Debra is keen to reconnect with contacts in the industry with the primary focus on supporting customers’ needs throughout.

In her spare time, Debra enjoys playing pool, going to the gym and quad roller skating.

Gina Kither

Business Development Executive

Gina’s role focuses on maintaining our current clientele through frequent contact, as well as working to drive new business, booking in demos for our products and supporting field sales by liaising with customers and producing quotations upon request.

With experience in both sales and customer service, Gina is using her skills to her advantage and developing them as she grows into the role.

Jo Hare

Marketing Manager

Jo brings considerable marketing expertise to her role having worked in digital marketing within an agency and marketing with a business to business audio visual provider. Qualified with a degree in Business Management and also Google Ads certified, Jo brings the Group much needed insight and experience in many aspects of both digital and traditional marketing.

Very much a people person, Jo has also spent time in the education industry before joining the AcSoft & Svantek UK as lockdown was being lifted in 2020.

In her role, Jo is responsible for coordinating marketing activities and events and generally improving and developing our online presence.

Paul Rubens, General Manager at AcSoft Ltd & Svantek UK comments: “2020 has been a bit of a contradictory year for the Group as despite the pandemic, lockdown, and having many customers on furlough, we’re having possibly our best sales year ever. I’m delighted to have Jo on board to help grow our brand presence and get us perfectly positioned to grow even faster in 2021. As well as a proven track record in marketing, she brings enthusiasm and vibrancy to the team.”

Shannon Batten

Bookkeeper

Shannon oversees all bookkeeping operations for Svantek UK. Having worked in finance for 9 years in various roles, Shannon started her career as an apprentice at an accountancy firm before becoming fully qualified as a member of the AAT in 2016. Since then, she has gained experience in management accounting and financial reporting.

Shannon’s approach to bookkeeping and operational processing means she is a great asset to the team.

Asia Rix

Finance Administrator

Asia provides admin support to Svantek UK’s Finance department. Coming from a fast and dynamic retail background in various management roles. Asia has found a passion for finance and is currently studying towards her AAT Qualification at college. Having joined Svantek UK in Spring 2023, she hopes to gain more experience in finance and bookkeeping with the company and continue to grow her career.

Sarah Harding

Office Sales Manager

Office Sales Manager Sarah, is responsible for the day to day running of the AcSoft & Svantek UK office. This includes processing the incoming and outgoing shipments, dealing with stock levels and more. Sarah deals with all orders once the office has received the purchase order.

You will often find Sarah dealing with suppliers, customers, couriers and customs.

Alex Pullinger

Calibration Laboratory Manager

Alex joins AcSoft with over 10 years of experience working in calibration. 6 of which he spent working in a UKAS accredited laboratory.

With his experience of working in a UKAS lab, Alex is looking forward to working towards achieving the UKAS accreditation for the AcSoft in house calibration lab, along with improving overall efficiencies and capabilities.

Alex is looking forward to learning more about acoustics and being part of the Svantek UK team!

Will Jay

Calibration Technician

Will studied film at college and his previous experience includes working in the sound departments on film sets for Marvel, Amazon and CBS.

In his role of Calibration Technician, Will works in our in house calibration lab and is responsible for the calibrating and quick turnaround of the equipment sent in.

Will is looking forward to gathering more experience in the department and becoming part of the team!

Sibo Ngcobo

Technical Support Team Leader

Sibo focuses on configuring systems, diagnosing hardware and software faults and solving technical and applications problems, either over the phone or in person. Sibo also provides application training

Rob Taylor

Technical Support Engineer

Rob brings over 20 years experience in electronics manufacturing, product test, support and R&D to AcSoft & Svantek UK. He is responsible for dealing with incoming support queries across the Svantek range of kit, and administering the production, testing and deployment of the AcSoft Renew systems in larger monitoring projects.

Kai Rix

Technical Support Technician

Mostly Kai works on the renew builds and assist with calibration and repairs. Kai is more involved in the physical side like soldering, fabrication and replacing components than working with data but that’s something he is working towards with training from Sibo.

Kai is currently studying for a Level 3 Diploma in Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering.

Owen Hubbard

Business Administrator

Owen is responsible for speaking to customers about their calibration needs and booking their equipment in to be calibrated in our dedicated calibration laboratory.  He also looks after a lot of the admin side of things and assists the Office Sales Manger with processing incoming and outgoing shipments.

Owen is currently studying towards a Level 3 qualification in Business Administration.