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chairwoman, Lillian Cutting. With a long-standing working relationship behind them, the duo increased the business’s profits and capabilities year on year; firmly establishing GV as the market leader in Higher Education and a major supplier to corporate and pub- lic services across the UK.


Abrahams and Cutting handed over management of the company to their respective sons, Daniel and Kristian, earlier this year and appointed Com- mercial Director, Nicola Cutting and Michelle Shepherd to the board. Kris- tian and Daniel bring a wealth of expe- rience to the table as joint managing directors. Abrahams, an accountant and former venture capitalist with years of experience running business- es joined the fold last year. While Cut- ting, who has climbed the ranks and previously held the position of sales director, oversees sales and opera- tions.


Cutting and Abrahams, who have been friends since childhood, have a deep understanding of the business and what each brings to the table. “Kristian knows AV and GV inside out and is one of the key reasons for our growth and success to date. My back- ground as an FD and MD for VC backed companies means that I know how to run good organisations and keep all the administration and finances under control”, says Abrahams.


The company is known for investing in its people, with Prince2 and Avixa CTS Technical, and other professional development programs offered to staff. Cutting explains that many of the staff are long standing “work-family” that always go the extra mile for customers. This includes the company’s divisional directors, Richard Watts and Kim Lid- dle who have 31-and-29 year’s service respectively.


The business also holds a number of ISO accreditations for operational and security standards, data security, op- erations and the environmental impact of the business, providing customers with the highest standard of service delivery and assurance. Another key factor in its continued growth and success, are its regional hubs where customers can demo the latest tech- nology.


Undertaking a rebrand in a pandemic 11


is not for the faint of heart. Like many businesses in the AV sector, GVAV’s clients needed AV systems installed during lockdown that would enable re- mote working. To ensure the safety of customers and staff, GVAV invested in making their premises Covid-Secure, installing hand washing and sanitiz- ing stations, introducing temperature check points, using its supply chain to source PPE when there was a glob- al shortage, and implementing strict Covid-19 safety guidelines across its operation.


“Initially the rebrand was put on hold temporarily so that we could focus on implementing safe working standards. Many of our customers needed sys- tems installed to enable teams to work remotely”, responds Cutting. “Not sur- prisingly there was an increased de- mand in education for interactive AV technologies to support remote learn- ing and teaching”. Abrahams adds, “I’m not going to lie, back in March we all took a collective gulp and were understandably con- cerned, however we were also keen to


keep going for our staff and customers, accommodating the unique challenges and changing requirements with our usual grit and determination”. Working with AV specialist digital creative agency, Tiga Creative Market- ing, the team pulled together to sign off creative iterations and Abrahams was keen to prioritise the company’s investment into its IT infrastructure. “Part of the generation change was bringing fresh impetus and we did not want to delay – after all we are a cutting-edge AV business, and it was important to convey that to our stake- holders and the industry at large” he concludes.


Originally a division of construction giant Taylor Woodrow, GVAV was bought out in 2001 by the company’s chairman, Brian Abrahams, and vice chairwoman, Lillian Cutting. Subsequently, Abrahams and Cutting handed over management of the com- pany to their respective sons, Daniel and Kristian, earlier this year and appointed Commercial Director, Nicola Cutting and Michelle Shepherd to the board.


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