Founder and former design director Darren Evans has moved into the role of managing director, following the departure of long-standing MD Lesley Gulliver, who stepped down in December.
A design associate at Design Council and former board director of Design Business Association, Lesley joined The Engine Room in 2012. Although originally intended as a five year position, she stayed for 14 years, shaping the structured growth of the organisation. During that time she also bought a dilapidated 19th century Mirfield mill with Darren, transforming it from an empty shell into the creative workplace that The Engine Room calls home today.
Lesley will remain a shareholder and non-executive director, but Darren will now take the reins of the business.
Leo Parker, who joined the company as designer 18 years ago, has also worked up the ranks to creative director, with a recent promotion to the board. He is joined by Alice Broadbent, who was hired as client services director last spring. With more than 16 years of experience, Alice has successfully led cross-functional teams at The Sharp Agency and Ponderosa – with expertise spanning financial services, retail, healthtech and pharmaceutical to name just a few – and has an impressive track record of strategic growth.
Having recorded The Engine Room’s best ever year – which marked 23% revenue growth for the tight nine-strong team – Darren believes this 25th milestone year is about doubling down on the firm’s brand specialism in what he has coined ‘act three’.
“The Engine Room’s story – our first ‘act’ – began in 2001, and I had strong ambitions for the agency I wanted to create and the work I knew we could achieve,” Darren explains. “But over the years, I learned what I wasn’t good at. It took 12 months, a lot of mistakes – and plenty of stress – to realise I needed the right business partner to allow me to be the founder I wanted to be.
“Appointing Lesley as MD – ‘act two’ – is hands down the best business decision I’ve ever made. She brought experience, critical and strategic thinking, a tight handle on the numbers and a black and white view of things to counter my creative ‘grey’ matter. Our partnership inspired me to do things The Engine Room would likely never have ever done, and we had the confidence to take on exciting and challenging projects, together.
“Just because you own a business doesn’t mean you have to be the boss,” Darren concludes. “But we spent three years planning for Lesley’s exit, and now is the right time, with the right senior leadership team, for me to move into that role. There’s no denying we operate in a crowded market, but ‘act three’ is about us owning the reputation we’ve proudly carved for ourselves over the past quarter century, in a segment of the vibrant creative industry that has always been our specialism.”
As The Engine Room predicts further 20% growth for in 2026, scope will emerge to appoint an apprentice later in the year, with a possible junior designer role also on the cards.
The Engine Room is an award-winning strategic brand agency that utilises design thinking and business thinking as catalysts to drive positive change, particularly in organisations with complex propositions. The company has remained firmly rooted in Kirklees for the majority of its history, with homes at Huddersfield’s Bates Mill and The Media Centre, before the move to York Mills – once owned by the employer of Anne Brontё – in 2018.
For further information or to speak to any of the people named in this press release, please contact Alice Broadbent – alice@engineroomdesign.com or 01484 511358.
