Our Staff

Matthew founded ABEC in 2004 and has worked in the Building Controls industry for over 30 years. His initial role was as a Service Engineer, in 1993, and steadily progressed through the ranks at various companies, holding roles such as Design Engineer, Commissioning Engineer and Project Manager. This has given him a great insight into the industry, from ‘the shop floor up’.

Matthew has successfully led the Group to achieve sustained, annual, top-line growth of between 20% – 30%. He has also steered the company into new regions including Ireland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, at the same time introducing several new revenue streams into the business including Power Monitoring Solutions and Industrial Control Solutions.

Frank Duggan brings extensive international leadership experience to his role as Chairman. He currently serves as Vice Chairman and Board Director of Hitachi Energy AG, Head of Marketing & Business Development for the Hitachi Energy Sector, and Board Member of GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear.

Previously, Frank led the ABB Hitachi Collaboration Team and held senior executive roles at ABB, including President of the Europe region and member of the Group Executive Committee. His career has spanned key leadership positions across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, with a strong focus on energy, infrastructure, and industrial transformation. Frank’s strategic insight and global perspective support ABEC’s continued growth and innovation in building performance and energy solutions.

Andrew is a Chartered Accountant with over 20 years experience. Having trained at Grant Thornton, he spent 15 years in M&A at Deloitte and Alantra. During this time a great variety of experience was gained across private equity and public company transactions, both in the UK and internationally. Andrew has spent the last 6 years working as a CFO of private equity backed businesses. He successfully lead the exit of Connexas (tech business backed by Horizon Capital) in 2020. With a broad range of experience across practice and industry Andrew is well placed to spearhead the financial operations of a growing global business

Matt is the Group’s COO. He has worked in the Building Controls industry for fifteen years, ten of which have been with ABEC.

Matt holds a BSc in Building Services Quantity Surveying and was awarded a BTEC Level 4 in construction dispute avoidance. Matt spent the first five years of his career working for various Building Controls companies as a quantity surveyor, and later. as a commercial consultant. Having joined ABEC Matt spent his first five years as the commercial manager, before being promoted to his current role. Being responsible for the Group’s commercial and operational activities, Matt has overseen revenue growth of over 300% and a more than doubling of headcount.

Tom brings over 15 years of expertise in the Building Management Systems (BMS) industry. Tom joined ABEC in April 2019 and has taken the helm of the operational side of the managed services business. For seven years, Tom worked across multiple sites in London before stepping into a site supervisor role for three years. Tom began his career at ABEC as a project manager for major and special projects, he then progressed to operations manager for special projects. His strong leadership and deep industry knowledge have since led him to his current position as Operations Director. Tom takes overall commercial and operational responsibility for the successful delivery of all projects maintenance within ABEC Managed Services.

James joined ABEC in February 2024, as Operations Director for the New Projects division. James is responsible for operational delivery of all major projects across the regions in which ABEC is currently deployed.

With previous senior roles at large organisations, such as Mitie (where he was Head of Operations), and a track-record of delivering projects relating to high end residential, large commercial offices and data centres, James is well placed to lead and grow the BMS installations offering.

Ewa has over 16 years’ experience as a senior HR and compliance leader, with a strong track record of leading organisational change in fast-paced SME environments. She has successfully managed complex restructures and mergers, while overseeing large, geographically dispersed workforces.

Since joining ABEC in April 2024, Ewa has been responsible for shaping and delivering the Group HR strategy and operations across the UK, Ireland, Europe and the Middle East. Alongside the people function, she oversees quality, health, safety and environmental compliance, including the management of external accreditations and audits, working closely with senior stakeholders to align people and compliance strategies with wider business objectives.

Sam Samra is Sales Director for the New Projects – Critical Infrastructure Division. With over 35 years in building controls, BMS, and critical infrastructure, Sam brings deep technical expertise and commercial leadership to complex environments.

Starting as a trainee controls engineer, Sam progressed through commissioning and project management roles, delivering major projects for clients such as Lehman Brothers and HSBC at Canary Wharf. This hands-on background enables him to bridge technical, operational and commercial requirements effectively. Transitioning into sales four years ago, Sam now leads strategy, drives revenue growth and builds long-term partnerships across mission-critical sectors.

Ibraheem is a recruitment professional who has over 12 years experience within the controls marketspace. He has an excellent track record of maintaining the business growth requirements throughout EMEA and is solely responsible for this. He joined ABEC in August 2023 but has been external supplier for over a decade. He has been responsible for growing the business headcount by 23% within his first year. Recruiting in a niche marketspace is his forte, he founded Platinum Link Recruitment and has worked across various regions within the UK & beyond.

Phil is a qualified Chartered Accountant who spent 8 years working in audit for top 25 accounting firm, Hazlewoods. Phil left practice to take on his first industry role, before joining ABEC in November 2022. As Group Financial Controller, Phil leads and manages a small finance team, and produces the Group’s multi-entity, multi-currency consolidated management accounts. He is responsible for developing financial best-practice within the Group, and improving financial controls and reporting processes. Phil also manages relationships with ABEC’s auditors, bankers and financial advisors.

Tony joined ABEC in January 2025 as Group Energy & Sustainability Director. Providing extensive industry experience in digital innovation, operational excellence and sustainability programmes across Energy, Facilities Management, and Building Controls sectors, Tony has been responsible for transformational service creation initiatives.

Tony is an adept strategic leader, balancing technical expertise and commercial judgement to define customer centric solutions that drive building and operational efficiencies. Tony spearheads ABEC’s go-to-market strategy development to deliver our smart buildings and sustainability-focused propositions.

Nikki has over 20 years’ marketing experience, having held senior roles for global organisations across technology, telecoms, energy and professional services.