Marketing & Engagement Manager at Brighton Chamber, Hannah Jackson, caught up with James Phillips – Partner at Galloways Accountants – to find out what this year’s 24/7 Brighton Summit theme means to our headline sponsor. 

Hi James, can you give us a quick introduction into who you are and what you do?

I’m a partner at Galloways Accounting in Brighton and Hove, with 22 years of experience. During that time, I am grateful to have worked with and helped some fantastic people on their business journey. Be it a start-up which started life as an idea during COVID, or helping a business to make the next steps and grow, or even helping them realise the value as part of their retirement plan, I’ve been, therefore, from the beginning.

This is Galloways’ eleventh Brighton Summit, and eleventh Summit as headline sponsor. What have been some of your standout moments?

You can’t beat the buzz in the room the first time we gathered for the first summit! It was very much about embracing the unknown for both the chamber and the members and what together we can help create for the benefit of everyone.

Each year we pick a different theme – any favourites, or ones that have particularly resonated with you, over the years?

Embracing the Unknown is something we unknowingly do each day, and focusing on how to harness it was very powerful.

As you know, our theme this year is 24/7. What do you think that means to Galloways?

24/7 is tricky in a service business! We aim to offer exceptional value for money through excellent service to our clients while ensuring our staff are happy, which means not working or being online 24/7. To achieve this goal, we must create trust between us and our clients through communication, which helps build a culture of openness and planning. And it is through planning that we remove the need to rush and worry about problems at the last minute.

What’s your 24/7 guilty pleasure?

As a kid, it was playing too much championship manager, during the school holidays I got close to playing that 24/7.

Brighton Summit 24/7 is on 23 October at The Corn Exchange at Brighton Dome. It’s a full day jam-packed with super speakers, wonderful workshops, brilliant breakouts, next-level networking and so much more to help us explore this year’s 24/7 theme. See what’s happening so far on our Brighton Summit schedule, and book your ticket here.