Meet the Management Team
Des Byrne
Des has been with us since we started, having previously been a machine setter/operator at Deloro Stellite. Des has progressed his career with us to the role of Operations Manager. This entails overseeing the day-to-day running of the business alongside our Business Manager. Along with managing the operational activities of the business including Production, Des is your contact for customer quotations and contract reviews for new jobs. Hobbies for Des include watching football, playing golf and helping Michelle with her woodworking projects and is affectionately known as ‘Bodgit’ to Michelle’s ‘Scarper’!
John Hillier
John is our co-founder and Director. Before setting up Cortus, he had more than 30 years’ experience with Deloro Stellite in a number of positions from craft apprentice to production manager, responsible for planning and production of component items. His role with us entails managing the company and the finances, looking after sales and customer contracts. What he loves most is working with committed people who care about our customers and want to provide the best service possible. In his spare time, John enjoys taking trips in his touring caravan, and walking in the national parks, including the Lakes, Brecon Beacons and the Peak District.
Michelle Gilbert
Michelle’s career began in engineering with the Royal Air Force working in the engineering typing pool, she then went to Intel Corporation followed by Deloro Stellite and finally joined us in 2013; so she has come full circle back to engineering. Initially joining as our Office Manager, Michelle is now the Business Manager. Her role covers all aspects of the business, including accounts, HR, payroll, sales, facilities management, website, purchasing and links into production. She loves that every day is a school day and there is never a dull moment! In her spare time, Michelle loves gardening and has turned her hand to woodwork, along with her partner in crime Des, (aka Bodgit to her Scarper!) things they have made include a rocking chair, building a gazebo over her hot-tub area, a bird table, jigsaw puzzle table and garden chairs that weigh so much they have had to put wheels on to be able to move them around, all built mostly using recycled wood or pallets whilst Paul (aka her hubby) keeps them fed and watered!
Sean Warren
Sean is our co-founder and Director, who has more than 31 years of experience in the welding industry, with 10 of those at Deloro Stellite. Welding technique development is a passion of Sean’s, and he is always looking at new and innovative ways to enhance the skillset and capabilities within Cortus and the purchase of 3 new PTA welding machines shows he means business. Outside of work, Sean enjoys going to the gym, growing his own fruit and veg, and walking his dogs.
Meet the Office Team
Paul Gilbert
Paul joined us in 2019 after a 39-year career as a Chef including running his own pubs in fact Paul was the Head Chef in the Deloro Stellite canteen in its Headquarters’ original site in Stratton St Margaret in1981! When he started at Cortus his training was initially working on the lathes and Logistics Coordinator, Paul has progressed his career with us and is now a qualified NDT inspector and has a range of responsibilities, including purchasing, order loading, sales and completion of e-certification packs. He looks after the orders for some of our key clients, overseeing their fulfilment from when they are placed, to when they leave our factory. Very importantly, he also coordinates our work socials and Christmas party! In his spare time, Paul runs a mobile disco, loves American football and enjoys a day of horse racing – everyone who knows him knows that he is Christmas-mad and being an ex-chef loves to feed everyone!
Beena Nawaz
Beena Nawaz joined Cortus in March 2025. Beena’s main career was at Intel in a range of operational and customer account support roles for the UK, European and US markets for 23 years until 2015. Then in 2016, she changed direction to work at a local software consultancy company ‘Cascade3d’, ensuring the seamless delivery of products and services to Leisure and Healthcare customers and partners, while also managing the company’s finances. Being part of a small company means you basically do anything that needs to be done! Outside of work, Beena is kept busy running around her nephews and nieces who range from being a teenager to being in their 30s! Beena has a passion for gardening and has an allotment which is where she can be found most weekends in the warmer months (Mar-Oct)! Zumba classes and 80/90’s music and dancing – she particularly loves Paul’s discos!
Meet the Production Team
Bryan James
After a career at Honda as a team leader, Bryan joined us as a CNC setter/operator in 2022 and was promoted to Shopfloor Supervisor in 2023 and since then has been promoted to Shopfloor Manager! It is Bryan’s role to manage the shopfloor keeping track of all the work in progress on the shopfloor and what stage it is at. He liaises closely with the welding team leader and operations manager to ensure tight control of the flow of production. Outside of work, Bryan is a Swindon Town FC fan and also enjoys watching films and spending time with his family.
Ashley Freegrove
Ashley joined us in 2022 as an experienced machinist. He has adapted his skills to work with Stellite and its complexity, having previously worked with aluminium, steels and plastics. He is responsible for setting and running the CNC machines and checking all is working correctly. What he enjoys most about his job is the variety of work, dealing with drawings with tight tolerances. In his spare time, Ashley enjoys going to motorsports events, and photography.
Brendan Connolly
Brendan joined us from a pharmaceutical company, where he was a trainee technician after previously working at Honda until its closure. Before this, he also worked at Deloro Stellite as a Logistics Coordinator and also in the Foundry. Luckily for us he was looking for a change in his working career so he joined us in January 2023 and became responsible for our Logistics Department receiving goods in, inspecting materials received to ensure they meet the requirements needed for production and shipping of components. He loads and unloads vehicles and production machines; provides regular stock checks. In October 2025 Brendan qualified as a Level 2 NDT Inspector and in his spare time, Brendan enjoys family time, holidays, and all sports.
Steve Watson
Steve joined us from another engineering company, where he was making components for the aircraft industry. With us, his role is setting, programming, and operating CNC lathes, he also covers when Bryan our Shopfloor Supervisor is offsite and loves the camaraderie of the shop floor and working with his teammates. Steve also looks after training our apprentices. Hobbies for Steve include cycling, walking and snooker – in fact, he is that crazy about cycling, in August 2022 he completed the Land’s End to John O’Groats Cycle Tour, an amazing 874 miles in aid of McMillan Cancer Charity. What an incredible sense of achievement he must have felt on reaching John O’Groats and becoming an End to Ender!
Connor Butler
Connor joined us as an apprentice in 2019 and after a 4-year apprenticeship, we are pleased he accepted a permanent position with Cortus and is now a fully qualified machine setter/operator and inspector. His role involves milling, turning, and CMM inspection and is a qualified NDT inspector. Outside of work, Connor enjoys football and darts.
Jason Henry
Jason is a time-served Apprentice and joined us in 2025 as a fully trained CNC Machine Operator. He has fitted in very well with the team and is looking forward to developing his skillset across all our machines. Outside of Cortus he enjoys cycling, playing guitar and violin – in fact it sounds like he is very musical as he was encouraged by the boys to bring his ukelele in for a lunchtime session which went down a storm! Outside of work hours Jason is part of an Engineering club so that he can further develop his metalworking skills as he loves to make things out of metal.
Max Stenning
Max joined us in August 2023 as an Engineering Apprentice on a 3-year apprenticeship course. He spends three days with us and the rest in college. His job entails learning the workings of the CNC lathe section from setting and operating the machines to changing offsets and loading programs. He will eventually learn to program the lathes. He is under the supervision of Steve Watson and Bryan James. Max likes the challenges each day brings, the people he is working with and the experience of working in a busy engineering company. In his spare time, Max enjoys going to the gym and playing basketball.
Joe Cosway
After several previous roles including working as a production technician at a vape flavour manufacturer, Joe joined us in 2022. Following intensive training, Joe qualified as a welding operator. Outside that role, he also became qualified as an XRF Analyser operator, and fire marshal, and is forklift trained. He has since moved into a Trainee Machine Operator role to further develop his capabilities in the Engineering world. He loves it, as no day is the same. Outside of work, Joe plays in a pool team, enjoys football and supports Spurs, oh and let’s not forget he got married in 2024!!
Meet the Welding Team
Dave Stephens
Dave joined us at the start of Cortus after working as a welder with Deloro Stellite. He has now progressed to Welding Supervisor, and his role entails managing the welding area and workload and overseeing ongoing jobs. In particular, Dave enjoys taking on the challenge of a new job, and passing on his knowledge to our trainees and seeing how they progress. In his spare time, Dave enjoys golf, socialising and being with his family.
Rhys Baughn
Rhys joined us in March 2024 as a Trainee Welding Operator, following training, Rhys is now a qualified welding operator and is enjoying developing more in his new trade. Before joining Cortus, Rhys was working as a mechanic on cars and then caravans but felt he wanted to learn a new trade. His role entails operating the PTA welding machines, setting up jobs for welding and setting up the pre-heat machine to keep jobs at a set temperature overnight. In his spare time, Rhys likes working on his car and spending time with his family.
James Hackett
James joined us in 2025 and is looking forward to his new role as Trainee Welding Operator. He has previously been involved in welding, mainly as a steel fabricator and a TIG welder – he is now on an intensive training schedule to become a PTA welding operator. One of his previous roles was as a nightclub doorman – if you saw James up close you’d understand why he was good at this! Outside of Cortus James plays rugby for a local team and enjoys snooker, films and music. He is currently preparing to be a first-time father – good luck with that!
