My 10 years as part of the Porterhouse family by Emma H

It has been a pleasure working for Porterhouse over the past 10 years. In that time the company has grown at a rapid pace into the vibrant force that it is today, while still retaining the nurturing family feel that it has always had under Jon and Brian’s leadership. No mean feat in the world of med comms! I have been fortunate to work with some inspiring colleagues over the years, and it is always rewarding to see how quickly new members of the team settle in and develop their skills and confidence.

Back in 2006 I had already worked for several publishing houses, including Nature Publishing Group in London (for some inexplicable reason choosing this office rather than the one in Basingstoke that I passed en route to the station every day), and A&M in Guildford, where I met a couple of bright young men (Jon and Brian) with big ideas. I’m fairly sure that the regular pub visits and extended Christmas parties ending in the early hours (which were the norm at A&M) helped to develop the Porterhouse vision.

After taking a career break travelling around the world with my husband, I came across a job advert for a company in Reading run by some familiar names. Thankfully, Jon and Brian hired me, and my career at Porterhouse began. On our very first day I went to Nando’s for the first time with the team (all nine of us), and a tradition was born!

In those early years, I wrote training manuals, organised advisory board meetings, wrote reports, fostered client and KOL relationships, booked hotels and transport, liaised with the printers, and on occasion even developed my own artwork. It was a challenging but highly rewarding learning curve, which strengthened my skills and understanding of the work we do. Thankfully, these days we have expert teams to cover all aspects of our work, to ensure our final products and events are top quality and efficiently run.

I am thoroughly enjoying being back in the office with the team, and working more hours, now that my children are both at school (oh yes, that’s another thing that has happened for me over the decade!). I will always be grateful for the flexibility offered by Porterhouse during this time to enable me to work while parenting.

Now, there are more exciting times ahead, with the imminent opening of the new wing at Porterhouse HQ, which follows another successful year both in terms of profit and the numerous well-deserved awards received. I am extremely proud of the company I work for and the people I work with, and am looking forward to many years ahead!