Simon Lee

Executive Director of Chepstow and Hereford Racecourses

Education

Simon Lee graduated from Aberystwyth University in 1982 with a BA Hons in English. After finishing his English Degree he decided to do a Masters in Business Administration at Hull University. Both these degrees well equipped him for his current job.

Career Path

Simon has been a manager in the leisure industry from 1990 onwards. He has worked in managerial positions in a wide range of big institutions such as being  the Commercial Director of the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. Since 1994 he has been the Executive Director of Chepstow and Hereford Racecourses.

This position includes a wide range of activities. Simon is responsible for all sales, marketing, operational and legislative matters. He creates and delivers the marketing strategies and meets the heads of the sales as well as the conferencing and operations departments on a daily basis, to discuss and agree activity and performance against objectives and targets. Monitors business performance by looking at sales figures each week and producing a monthly management report are strategies he successfully uses to assess how they are doing as a business.

He then meets with staff and attempts to motivate members of his team on a daily or weekly basis to achieve goals and deliver excellent customer service.

To make sure that everything runs smoothly and they achieve the highest customer satisfaction, Simon personally talks to customers on race days and during the week to get feedback, generate repeat sales and build relationships. To achieve this, he is constantly communicating via e-mail and phone.

Why English and Creative Writing?

Simon is convinced that his English studies extensively help in his current job. The load of information literature students can be faced with taught him how to read and digest a great amount of information but also how to plan and carry out detailed research. When making decisions on the other hand, it is essential to focus on limited subject areas and to learn time management and self-discipline. Dealing with a language based subject highlighted to him the importance of communicating clearly and concisely. With our clear focus on oral presentations, studying English also taught him how to reach an audience and share his views.