EDITOR INTERVIEW In conversation with...
Ben Walter, Technical Development Manager and Technical Sales Manager, KRAHN UK Limited
Ben Walter is a technical development leader at Krahn UK, specialising in industrial lubricants. Beginning his career in a temporary administrative role, he has built deep technical knowledge and strong industry relationships through curiosity and hands-on experience. Winner of the 2021 UKLA Young Employee of the Year Award, he is known for his proactive, personable approach to customers and colleagues alike.
Where/when were you born? Can you tell us a bit about family and your early years? I was born in Crewe, in 1993, and have lived in the same area in South Cheshire all my life, a few years at university in York aside. My Dad, Phil, was actually part of the lubricants industry himself, becoming a Director at Multisol in 1995, and staying with them until he retired in 2008. Before him, his dad had also been in the industry, being a sales rep for Castrol! My Mum had been a nurse, before a combination of health issues and family circumstances led her to become a stay at home, looking after my younger brother and I.
What did you want to be growing up? I never really knew what I wanted to do growing up. For a while, I’d been aiming at becoming a teacher, and did eventually go through the PGCE, but obviously that didn’t quite pan out as expected!
Education – where did you go, what subjects did you choose and why?
I did my GCSEs and A-Levels at our local secondary school and sixth form, then went on to study Linguistics and English Language at the University of York for my undergraduate degree. At the time, not really having a particular career path in mind, I chose this because I’d enjoyed the more linguistics and psychology type bits of the English Language A-Level, so figured the course should be at least interesting, and hopefully would keep my options open afterwards, with it being a bit humanities and
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a bit science-y. A couple of years after that, I then undertook the PGCE at the Manchester Metropolitan University, for Primary Education. I’ve also since completed an Apprenticeship as a Customer Service Specialist while I’ve been working, and I’d be remiss not to mention the UKLA’s Certificate of Lubricant Competence as well!
First job – where and when, what did you like about it and what did you not? My first job was as a teaching assistant in a local primary school; I’d been volunteering there in order to build up school hours to support my PGCE application, helping out with reading workshops, higher level maths tuition groups, and the like. When an opening came up to cover someone else’s maternity leave, they then offered me the job, which suited me down to the ground! I was only there for about a year before I left to do the PGCE, but I enjoyed my time there, especially getting to know the kids and being on hand to see them progress and gain in confidence and personality.
How has career mapping led to where you are now? Well, as you can probably tell already, it wasn’t a conventional path into the industry! I ended up leaving the teaching profession for a mix of personal and family reasons, and was kind of at a loose end with no real idea of what to do with myself. I ended up coming in to support Andrew Lamb, who had just purchased a company called Petrico, during the
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