Dulux Academy expands its skills development team as James Wildish, Georgie Baker and Steve Dove join the stellar line-up.
Dulux Academy, the home of painting and decorating excellence, has recently celebrated its seventh birthday and marked the occasion by welcoming three new Associates to its skills development team: James Wildish, Georgie Baker and Steve Dove.
The growth of Dulux Academy over the last seven years and the new initiatives it now provides required the need to expand the team to keep up with demand. The quality and credibility of the Dulux Academy team is a real testament to the successes it has had to date, the biggest milestone so far this year being over 15,000 people have been trained over the 13 Dulux Academy locations operating nationwide.
Dulux Academy has always adapted to the ever-changing landscape of the sector, and it provides invaluable training solutions both online and in physical locations, including purpose-built spaces within the Dulux Decorator Centre network. The Dulux Academy digital offer expands to free live workshops and a 24-hour learning Hub, which hosts online courses and is available to anyone who has attended a Dulux Academy course.
Those who have taken part in Dulux Academy training, either physically or virtually, will already be familiar with some of the skills development consultants, Matt Gray, Mark Rigby, Tony Pearson-Young, Nicola Holmes and Scott Oliver, and will have experienced the broad knowledge and expertise they have and share.
New for 2023, these well-known names were joined by three new Dulux Academy associates, and each new associate has been identified as partner and ally of the Dulux Academy, but has also been recognised for the wealth of experience and expertise that they can bring to life for professionals. James Wildish will provide courses on spraying, uPVC spraying in particular, while Steve Dove will focus on business development and communication, and Georgie Baker’s specialism will be social media.
James Wildish
Well known within the industry, James is bringing his spray expertise and 15 years of industry knowledge to Dulux Academy, with a focus on uPVC spraying. Having benefited from business mentors himself, James is hoping to inspire today’s painters and decorators with new technology and future ways of working.
Having started his career as a domestic decorator, James was always keen to continue learning in the field, and after working for a firm for four years, he decided to become self-employed and began training in spraying and decorative finishes. Two years later, he had set up a commercial decorating company, employing 18 painters. James went on to specialise in uPVC and kitchen spraying. The business took the market by storm and in 2020, it became the biggest uPVC spraying specialist in the South of England. James is now proud to bring his skills and expertise into the Dulux Academy and continue to inspire and train decorators in new application methods.
Steve Dove
With 38 years of experience and one of the highly respected Dulux Select Decorators, Steve is joining the Dulux Academy team to support training in business development and communication, from understanding and managing cashflow, pricing and quoting, to business admin and paperwork and selling and promoting a business.
Steve gained a wealth of experience from having run his own decorating business for over three decades and with that he has learnt how to win work through offering the best service, rather than the cheapest price. He is bringing his ‘can-do’ attitude to the Dulux Academy and encouraging painting and decorating professionals to do anything they can to continue to learn the trade and never stop learning, as well as focus on what customers need and provide excellent services.
Georgie Baker
Georgie runs a multi-award-winning business, having specialised in property management and refurbishment for the past 10 years. Georgie’s new Associate position will focus on bringing decorators the tools and skills they need to help develop their social media platforms, websites and boosting their SEO.
Georgie is bringing his new-generation approach to the team and his experience as a multiskilled tradesperson, will resonate with delegates, as he can empathise with many experiences decorators may face in their careers. His piece of advice to those starting the industry, is to not get discouraged by mistakes – some of the greatest growth can come from mistakes.
Speaking of the new Dulux Academy Associates, Vickie Mather, Dulux Academy Lead at AkzoNobel, commented: “We’re thrilled that James, Steve and Georgie are joining the team. Not only are they established and experienced professional decorators, but they are also each bringing with them unbeatable knowledge in their respective fields that complement the skills of the existing core Dulux Academy team.”
For more information about Dulux Academy and explore the courses available, visit www.duluxacademy.co.uk