Stephen Stone – Chairman and Managing Director

Stephen has a natural connection with the older generations – he was raised by his Grandparents. He left school in 1966 and spent the following years supporting his relationship with Dawn and later their family, through a few employed positions, starting as a buyer (10yrs) with a food multi-national, later a house-builder and much later having been one of the first 25 people at Dyson Appliances Ltd, again as a buyer. In 1994, with his children through University and ‘flown the nest’, Stephen (and Dawn – his wife of 30-years) was able to really think about what they wanted from their lives, and subsequently, from their work… and it was to continue caring for people in some way.

In 1996 Stephen and Dawn purchased a small Residential Care Home in Dartmouth, Devon. They both took naturally to this caring role, applying their caring desires with their lifetime developed professional skills, and neither has looked back since. Stephen now frequently reminds us all just how much he loves his work.

Stephen, in his role as Chairman & Managing Director, is the figurehead for the Stonehaven Care Group. He is the gatekeeper of the standards to which all in the company aspire. His position is greatly facilitated by the quality of the team of people working with him, all of whom share a simple yet tremendously important (and sometimes too easily forsaken in the World) commodity – they care for, and about, people.

Dawn Stone – Director of Care

Dawn has been married to Stephen since she was 21-years old, with whom she began our family in 1974. Before that she had been in a ‘one girl amongst three brothers’ family… which took care and effort.

Dawn had before been mostly in the catering industry, but when she and Stephen purchased the first Residential Care Home in 1996 Dawn naturally assumed the role of ‘Care Home Manager’. Much akin to Stephen’s experience, Dawn took to this, like a duck to water. The position was a natural vent for her outgoing, caring nature (whilst bringing her into daily contact with care team members, residents and their families) with whom she was able to have occasional good old gossips!

As Stonehaven has developed, thus has Dawn’s role. Dawn regularly visits each Care Home to provide support and guidance where needed and to ensure that our rigorous standards are constantly met within each home, and to promote our team-training programmes.

Dawn’s role brings her into regular contact with CQC (Regulatory body for the Care Industry) with whom she and Stonehaven have a very healthy and productive working relationship. As a company, Stonehaven Care Group welcomes input from the regulatory and inspection support bodies, as we know the service is improved and strengthened that way.

Ralphe Stone – Operations Director

Ralphe’s Business Degree pre-disposed him perfectly to assume the Operations Director role in our fast-growing service.

He is strategically responsible for; procurement (including bought ledger), property, fixed and floating equipment assets, utilities, insurance and maintenance as well as being responsible for implementation of all of the Boards strategies across fifty percent of the groups care homes.

In the early days of Stonehaven, Ralphe’s involvement included actual personal care activity during which he proved to be a great asset to the home as he is instinctively compassionate and caring.  That experience of working in a care home is of great value to the company in ensuring that all decisions made at every level in the business are fundamental to one simple quality value, “will this improve the lifestyle experience of our residents?”

Ralphe sees his challenges as keeping up-to-date with new technologies and implementing those, where beneficial; also seeking innovation and ideas that can offer quality improvements and add to the customer ‘Value for Money’ experience.

Nathan Stone – Director of Services Development & Human Resources

Nathan is Stephen and Dawn’s eldest son. Having completed a Psychology degree at Leeds University Nathan then choose to pursue a career in retail through what was, at the time, a new and fairly small company, The Carphone Warehouse. Within a period of three and a half years Nathan had progressed to roles of Retail Operations Manager and then Area Sales Manager – responsible for the Oxford Street Stores in London.

The people-management skills, larger organisation efficiencies and customer-lead mind set that Nathan had developed with The Carphone Warehouse, and not least his closely relevant degree, increasingly had real relevance to the needs of Stonehaven as our company continued to shows signs of results and recommendation rapid growth. Having joined Stonehaven Care Group in May 2004, Nathan is involved in any aspect of the business that has an impact upon the quality of service experienced by; our residents, care-team members, social services, inspection and ‘the outside World’

Nathan’s role is clear – it is to apply his skills to help ensure that any Stonehaven care home is the best home for elderly people in need of Residential Care. Also to ensure that these people feel that Stonehaven Care Group is the best care provider for them to be with and for all to have easy access to information about our company and the service that we provide.

Nathan is delighted to now be using his earlier developed skills in a company with so vital a role in people’s lives. The focus in our company is clear in itself – and is clearly valued by every team member – it is ‘to enable our residents to achieve the best from their lives’.

Naomi Cronk – Financial Controller, PA to Chairman & Company Secretary

Naomi joined the company in 2015 as Financial Controller. Her role also extends to PA to Stephen and Company Secretary. She was previously at Old Mill Accountants in Exeter so brings with her a wealth of financial knowledge and experience.

Naomi lives in Exeter with her husband and two children, and enjoys running, elaborate cake decorating and horseplay.

Emily Winslow – PR/Marketing and Service Development Manager

Emily has a Business Degree from the University of Westminster and a background in Marketing and PR for Research International, Hobsons Publishing, Marketing Means and RC2. Working closely with the Directors and external agencies, she looks after the branding, media buying and, ongoing PR and ad-hoc events for Stonehaven, and is also responsible for keeping our website current. She also works closely with Nathan on ensuring that the quality of the service we offer, is of the very highest standard.

She has been with Stonehaven since 2007 and loves the variety that her role within the company offers. Emily lives with her husband and two children, and when not working loves photography, films and cooking.

Wendy Thomas – Payroll, HR and Customer Accounts Manager

Wendy brings 24 years of experience in HR and Payroll to Stonehaven. She is responsible for the processing and administration of Payroll for all employees, new starters and leavers. She keeps all files up to date (both hard-copy and electronic), and deals with BACS, paying HMRC, CSA and Court Orders. On the Customer Accounts side of things, Wendy looks after the administration associated with all of our residents.

She works closely with the Managers from all of our homes to ensure all files are current and up-to-date. She invoices customers, and deals with government bodies for payment when relevant. She is probably the most organised person in the office, is very friendly and can often be heard singing along to the radio! Wendy is a Devon lass, lives with her husband and three children, enjoys eating out and socialising.

Carole Hatcher – Payroll and General Administration

Carole is the most glamorous member of the team. She previously worked in the Accounts Department of the Palace Hotel, Torquay for 13 years. She now assists Wendy with the Payroll and general administration. Carole is also responsible for keeping the extensive training records for each staff member up to date.

Carole has two grown up sons and she enjoys holidays, especially cruises, reading and walking the dogs.

Mathilde Bouts – Purchasing Assistant

Mathilde is the newest member of the team. She is Dutch and, prior to coming to England, lived in the South of France for 13 years where she mostly worked as a script supervisor for film and television. Having discovered Devon 8 years ago, she decided to settle down in this beautiful part of the country. Her other employment history has encompassed sales, conference & events co-ordinating & administration. Mathilde has always had a keen interest in figures and working as a purchasing assistant at Stonehaven Care Group is the ideal opportunity for her to use the skills that she has gained over the years together with her recently gained AAT Level 2 qualification in accounting.

Mathilde lives with her partner & 2 cats in Torquay. She loves visiting vintage fairs & classic car shows, restoring old furniture and cycling.