The Board
Chair: Fred Harrison
Following a career in shipping Fred took early retirement and became a volunteer with The Big Lemon in 2008. Since then he has been played a central role in The Big Lemon’s development, supporting Tom and the team with his wealth of experience and practical approach to problem-solving. Fred also plays a key role in motivating the team to perform at their best, and championing the organisation in the wider community.
Chief Executive: Tom Druitt
Tom has always had a keen interest both in environmentalism and in mobility, and a specific interest in public transport from an early age. Growing up in rural Sussex, Tom was acutely aware of the effect of the Beeching cuts to the railway network, his own village being a victim of the cuts.
Tom studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Stirling and then moved to Brighton to take a management post at a rehabilitation centre for adults with acquired brain injury. After three years there he was ready for a new challenge and set up The Big Lemon with childhood friend Graeme Simpson following a public meeting about buses in Brighton in 2006. Tom is a qualified Transport Manager, holding the Certificate of Professional Competence in Passenger Transport. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Councillor on Brighton & Hove City Council.
Mitali Mookerjee
Mitali Mookerjee is the MD of a medium-sized software company in Leeds. A childhood friend of founders Tom and Graeme, Mitali has been a shareholder for a number of years and joined the Board in 2016. Despite the distance and her already busy schedule, Mitali has played a very active role in the organisation, both in the mechanics of getting business intelligence to the Board’s fingertips and in developing the vision. Mitali also has a keen interest in staff wellbeing and team development and is always looking for ways we can become a better employer and enable all our team reach their potential.
Ron Tanner
Ron is a business coach with a lifetime of experience in many different businesses and has been involved in The Big Lemon since the early days, coaching Tom for a number of years, and more recently taking up a position on the Board. Ron is an all-rounder with insights and experience in every aspect of running a business, bus his main focus is on building capability and long-term value in the organisation.
The Management Team
CEO: Tom Druitt
Tom is responsible for the organisation health of The Big Lemon and its culture, strategy and resources. Tom leads the Management Team in the delivery of services, customer care and staff development and is ultimately responsible for the quality of our services, the management of our resources, and the wellbeing of our staff team.
Finance and Sustainability Manager: Anna Fisher
Anna joined The Big Lemon in 2015 after a career spanning more than 15 years in finance, followed by a degree in Environmental Science. Anna had been on a couple of Big Lemon walks and responded to a call on Facebook looking for some temporary help with a backlog of administration.
However, Anna soon became a full time family member due to her passion for sustainable transport and a strong belief in The Big Lemon vision. Her other interests include wildlife watching, growing mushrooms and is currently undertaking an MSc in Sustainable Food and Natural Resources at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Mid Wales.
Bus Services Manager: Mark Bennett
Mark joined The Big Lemon as a bus driver in 2014 and quickly became a key member of our team. Always cheerful and keen to help in any situation, Mark became the one others looked to for support in the delivery of our services and in 2016 Mark took responsibility for the provision of our bus services.
Mark has built up a good relationship with our major customers and our passengers and is responsible for the recruitment, training, mentoring and supervision of our bus drivers.
Coach Services Manager: Ryan Wrotny
When Ryan was 13 he came to the depot with his dad and asked if he could join the company as an investor. He had read in the local paper that we were looking for investment, and saved enough money to buy a share. He then regularly came to the depot to help out, washing buses with Tom at the weekends and helping out in the office during the week after school.
When he was 16 he announced to Tom that he was going to work at The Big Lemon full time when he left school and told Tom to come up with a budget and a job description. Impressed by his proactive approach to grasping opportunity, Tom gave Ryan a job as an Office Administrator and taught him what he needed to know.
Now, almost ten years on from his first visit to the depot, Ryan is a qualified Transport Manager (International) with experience in almost every area of the organisation. Ryan manages the coach side of the business, including private hire, day trips, music festival coaches, rail replacement services and coaches for Brighton & Hove Albion match days.
Our Drivers, Engineers & Cleaners
We have a very committed and hard-working team of bus and coach drivers, engineers and cleaning staff and we try and maintain a friendly and informal workplace, treating each person as an individual with their own hopes and dreams as well as a shared commitment to the aims of the organisation.
Our drivers quickly got a reputation for the personal, friendly service they give on the buses, and our engineers have worked hard to achieve a ‘Green’ traffic light rating with the DVSA, the highest standard in vehicle roadworthiness.
