ISSBA is delighted to welcome Chris Barnard, Managing Director of The Training Experts Ltd, as the new Chair.  

After a very successful career as a musician & paramedic in the armed forces for 19 years, Chris started his second career in sales and customer service selling life insurance and pensions for one of Canada’s top insurers, moving in to the general insurance arena where he had a very successful career working for motor insurers and motor insurance brokerages.  Through his own training and development consultancies, Chris has consulted, delivered training and provided business and training solutions for some of the most successful companies in the country, ranging from top end insurance brokers and direct insurers to various well known high street retailers and charities.

Chris has always had a passion for helping people and businesses to reach their full potential (a value that is held strongly within his own company) as well as being very active in the local business community.  These qualities make him the ideal person to move into the role of Chair of ISSBA, an organisation committed to the support of small and new businesses across Suffolk.

This is also a great opportunity for us to thank our outgoing chair, Kim Brown, Boleyn Events on behalf of the committee and the wider ISSBA membership as a whole for all her hard work and commitment during her term as Chair.

Chris commented “On behalf of ISSBA I would also like to take this opportunity personally of thanking Kim for all her hard work and support to both the committee and the ISSBA business community during her term as Chair.  Her tenure as chair may well have finished, however her support for ISSBA continues in the form of deputy Chair which will be equally as valuable and I’m looking forward to working alongside her in the role.

With regards to my tenure as ISSBA chair, I would like to assure our members that I am totally committed to the continued success of ISSBA and am looking forward to the challenge of being in the chair during one of ISSBA’s most important years, our 25^th Anniversary year in 2011!  The committee and I are equally committed to helping make this a year to remember for ISSBA as we are one of only a few organisations of our type that have continued to thrive, despite recessions and economic downturns, with membership currently standing at 350!  This is testament to the value placed on being an ISSBA member by those that renew year on year and let’s not forget our band of volunteer committee members who work tirelessly behind the scenes to maintain our profile in and around Ipswich & Suffolk on ISSBA’s behalf.

I look forward to meeting as many of our members as possible at our various events during my 2 years and I welcome ideas and points for the good and benefit of ISSBA from the membership too, simply send them to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .”