Key People

Executive Chairman, PA Group

Paul Potts joined PA Group as Editor-in-Chief in May 1995 and was appointed Group Chief Executive in February 2000 and Executive Chairman in May 2008. He is Chairman of the Board of Directors of CNW Group, Chairman of Meteo Consult B.V and serves as a member of the Newspaper Industry Code Committee.

Under his stewardship, The Press Association has strengthened its position as the national news agency for the UK and Ireland. He has also overseen the establishment and growth of other profitable divisions under the PA Group umbrella, which provide a widening range of media services to new and expanding markets. 

Paul Potts was Political Editor at the News of the World for four years before taking up the same role at the Daily Express in 1986. In 1988 he became Deputy Editor, a position he held until joining The Press Association. Previously, he was a reporter for The Daily Telegraph, and then the Mail on Sunday. He started his career with the Sheffield Star and the Yorkshire Post as lobby correspondent.

In 2006, Paul was inducted into the Regional Newspaper Hall of Fame, a list of 40 journalists who have made an outstanding contribution to regional newspapers over the last 40 years.

Managing Director

Jennifer Campbell joined The Press Association in 1996 when the company acquired Listings Ltd, an independent company supplying page-ready information services to the press. As Operations Director of Listings Ltd, Jennie was a key member of a team of three directors who built the successful business before it was sold to PA.

After joining The Press Association, Jennie was appointed as Director of PA’s Enterprises Division and also a Director of the PA WeatherCentre. In 2004 she took on the role of Managing Director of PA Entertainment, the Division of The PA Group that brings together the company’s TV, showbiz and entertainment content for print, web and mobile platforms. Jennie retained her role as a Director of the WeatherCentre throughout this period and with the acquisition of Meteo Consult in 2005 she took over as Managing Director of the entire Weather Group.

President

Harry Otten set up Meteo Consult in 1985 and the business supplied its’ first customers on 1^st February 1986. Combining his meteorological skills and the entrepreneurial drive he learned from his family, Harry built Meteo Consult into an international company. By the mid nineties the company had expanded into Germany, Belgium and the United Kingdom, where a joint venture with the Press Association was established. In 2005 the Press Association acquired the majority of the shares in Meteo Consult.

Harry studied Nuclear Physics at Eindhoven University, starting off his meteorological career with the KNMI - the Dutch Meteorological Office and was a popular TV weather presenter for almost 20 years for both national and commercial channels.

Commercial Director

Maarten Noort joined Meteo Consult as commercial director in January 1995 and is responsible for the commercial development of the company.

At university Maarten studied Analytical Chemistry and went on to work in research in the area of Inorganic Chemistry and Physics at the University of Leiden. He then spent nine years as Laboratory Director and Director of the Department for Winter Maintenance at the Ministry of Transport and Water Management. Here he led the development and installation of a national Road Weather Information System (RWIS) throughout the Netherlands.  Maarten then moved onto Meteo Consult where he spearheaded the development of our market-leading winter road services. Maarten is recognized Europewide as a leading expert in winter road maintenance.

Outside his work for MeteoGroup, Maarten is also Chairman of the Winter Maintenance Group of the National Information and Technology Platform for infrastructure, traffic, transport and public space (CROW) and a participant in the program council of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI).

Managing Director – MeteoGroup Deutschland

Dennis Schulze joined MC-Wetter when the company was founded in 1998. He initially held the position of local manager of the Berlin office, and was appointed Managing Director of MC-Wetter in 2003. In 2008 MC-Wetter was merged with MeteoGraphics, MeteoGroup's weather visualisation business, to create MeteoGroup Deutschland and Dennis was appointed Managing Director of the merged business.

Dennis also heads-up the Board of the German Association of Private Weather Companies (VDW) and was involved in the consultation with the German government at the XIV Congress of the WMO in 2003.

Dennis studied meteorology at the FU Berlin and graduated in 1998. During his time at university he worked for private weather services as a forecaster and IT expert.

Managing Director – MeteoGroup UK

Andrew joined PA WeatherCentre in 2000 and was appointed Commercial Manager in July 2001. In this role Andrew was instrumental in building the business driving significant revenue growth and in January 2006 he was appointed Managing Director of the UK weather business, recently re-branded MeteoGroup UK.

Prior to joining PA WeatherCentre, Andrew spent three years working for a company producing meteorological instruments for the various transportation sectors.  Andrew also has a Masters degree and is a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society.

General Manager - MeteoServices

Johan Jaques was one of the founders of MeteoServices in 1996. In the early years he managed the meteorological and technical departments. In the years following the merger of MeteoServices and Meteo Consult Johan became increasingly involved in the operational management of the company in Belgium and France and is now the Managing Director of the MeteoGroup business in Belgium and France.

Johan has a master degree in Physical Geography and Meteorology, and started his career in 1988 as an operational weather forecaster and advanced meteorology teacher for the Ministry of Defence in Belgium.

Group Broadcast Director

Thomas Hensel launched MeteoGraphics as Co-Founder and Head of Development in 1997. Under his leadership MeteoGraphics' first broadcast software products were developed and successfully installed at major TV stations in Europe. Thomas took over as Managing Director of MeteoGraphics in 1999 and when the business merged with MC-Wetter to become MeteoGroup Deutschland in 2008, Thomas took on a Group responsibility for graphics and visualisation as Group Broadcast director.

Prior to joining MeteoGraphics, Thomas worked in various European software development projects after completing his studies in Physics at the Technical University of Berlin.

General Manager – MeteoGroup, Espana

René is Dutch and was born in Oosterbeek, near MeteoGroup’s headquarters in Wageningen. René came to Spain eight years ago and started his career working in sales for a magazine in Madrid. He then moved on to set-up the Spanish division of a Dutch computer components business which he grew to become the second largest brand in computer accessories in the Spanish market.

René joined the MeteoGroup in May 2006 and is focussed on marketing MeteoGroup’s extensive product portfolio into the Spanish market.

Business Development Manager - MeteoGroup Scandinavia

Ralf Davidsson joined MeteoGroup Scandinavia when the company was founded in 2007. In his role he is responsible for building the business in the Scandinavian countries.

Prior to joining MeteoGroup, Ralf spent nine years working for a test and measurement company as Key Account Manager, building their analytical instrument and informatics business in the Swedish pharmaceutical industry.

Ralf has a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering from the Technical University in Lund.