Our Team
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Helen Parker
Helen has worked in the not-for-profit sector since 2002 and has extensive experience with grant-making Trusts and Foundations and corporate philanthropy.
Formerly Director of the DHL UK Foundation and the founder Head of the Wimbledon Foundation at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, she has been leading the John Laing Charitable Trust since April 2021.
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Heather Aldridge
Heather joined the John Laing Group in the mid 1990s as a Training Officer and later became Training Manager, designing and delivering personal, management and leadership programmes around the country. She subsequently took on the role of managing the JLCT welfare team, which looks after around 2,000 John Laing retirees.
Heather manages the Welfare Officers – all former JLG employees of retirement age – who provide support for long serving former staff members including hardship payments where necessary.
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Wai Chan
Wai joined the JLCT management team in 2022 and supports our charity partners working in communities across the UK and worldwide.
She brings over 15 years' experience in the not-for-profit sector and worked as a project manager at disability equality charity CAE, before specialising in grants management at City Bridge Foundation and the Wimbledon Foundation.
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Alex Finkenrath
Alex has been involved with JLCT since he joined John Laing Group in 1998.
Having trained as a journalist, he was brought in initially to manage and edit internal and external Company publications including the annual report and accounts. He set up new retirees’ magazine, that took over from the famous Team Spirit in-house publication which ran for more than 60 years.
His role now extends to management of archives, events, IT and the retirement clubs.
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Teresa Pettican
After joining Laing Group Insurance in 1979, Teresa worked in project teams across the Group.
As Senior CSR Coordinator for John Laing Teresa helped staff with their personal fund-raising activities, working closely with JLCT.
In 2012 Teresa transferred to the Trust where she is the main contact for Make a Difference and Matched donations for JLG staff and retired staff.
Welfare Officers
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David Batchelor
David joined John Laing Construction, North London Region, as an Articled Student in 1968 before moving to South West Region as Purchasing Director in 1984 and then as Construction Director until joining John Laing International (JLI) in 1996 where he managed the Equipment Division, supplying education and medical equipment to third world Countries.
In 2003 David moved to Colorado, USA to represent JLI in a Joint Venture Partnership carrying out work for the USA Federal Government on Diego Garcia, he then transferred to the United Arab Emirates recruiting and managing the workforce of 20,000 until retiring in 2011.
In 2014 David joined John Laing Charitable Trust as a Welfare Officer.
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Phil Biginton
Phil spent 18 years with John Laing, mainly in the Bury St Edmunds office as Senior Purchasing Manager.
He left the company in around 2000 straight after the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital contract, one of the first big PFI hospital projects.”
Phil trained with a London construction company, but was always determined to join one of the big three and chose John Laing.
Phil and his wife Carol have four children and five grandchildren. Phil’s hobbies include outdoor activities, photography, astronomy and rugby.
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Ian Dawson
Ian joined Laing in the mid 80's, based mainly in the North-East of England but also worked in Cumbria, Scotland and Yorkshire. He started working life as a Joiner before moving into supervisory roles and enjoyed over 20 years as a Project Manager.
Ian took early retirement to care for his wife in 2018 and two years later was very fortunate to be offered the role as Welfare Officer for the North-east, Cumbria and Scotland.
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Carolyn Dexter
Carolyn spent 14 years working for EPL Weston Depot at Stafford and has many fond memories of the people she dealt with.
She started out in reception working for the depot manager and moved on to become Secretary working for the UK Operations Director and depot management until 2002.
Her role involved liaising with EPL depots around the country. Prior to retirement Carolyn spent 14 years as Secretary to the Headmaster of a private school and became a Welfare Officer in 2019.
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Martin Doe
Former Laing Limited Director Martin Doe joined Laing in 1973 as an articled pupil in production control, progressing to Regional Planning and Resources Manager for London and Southern regions in 1994.
He moved to management and took on various roles before being appointed Technical Services Director for Laing Limited in 2000. He moved onto Laing O’Rourke for four years before finally retiring in 2014. Martin joined the Trust as a Welfare Officer in 2025.
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Steve Hobbs
Steve started his career with Laing as a Production Controller in 1972. His first project was the Wellington Hospital in St John’s Wood. He became the London Region Labour Officer in the early 80’s, progressed into Industrial Relations a few years later and then moved into Personnel.
He left Laing to join Holloway White Allom operating as their HR Manager, at the end of 2002 and became a Welfare Officer in 2016.
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Michael James
Mike joined Holloway Brothers, that subsequently became part of JLG, in 1968 as a Carpenter, working on projects such as Lewisham Town Centre, Wallington housing , Mortlake Brewery, Gatwick Airport and the Welcome Foundation.
He became a senior Project Manager and retired in 2001. Mike joined the Trust as a Welfare Officer in 2015.
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Rob Pugh
Rob started at John Laing in 1988 as Regional Marketing Manager later re named Business Development Manager. His role was to find out about what new construction opportunities were on the horizon in the North West Region then the work-winning team to try to secure the best and most profitable construction projects.
Highlights include the Bridgewater Hall, Urbis, the City of Manchester Stadium, later called the Etihad and the Preston Temple Complex built in Chorley.