Mike Thomas celebrates 25 years at Validair.

Our Commercial Director celebrated 25 years with Validair last month. Back in 1997, Mike Thomas joined a company in an industry that he knew very little about.

If you’re not in our industry, the term ‘cleanroom’ might not mean much. Today, you would Google it. But in 1997, Google didn’t exist: it was still a year away from being launched.

Our Managing Director Steve Ward knew Mike outside of business and trusted his instincts when inviting Mike to consider joining Validair (Euro) Ltd. It turned out to be a fine move. “Here we are a quarter of a century later looking back,” says Mike. “In that time, I’ve met some good people, worked with some truly great people (and still do), and forged strong business relationships and many personal friendships along the way. It has been a rewarding journey,” he admits.

Asked to pick a highlight of this 25-year stint, Mike settled on the fact that he loves to be “out and about” having worked in an office for eight years prior to joining Validair. Now he has seen most of the UK and travelled to places he would never have thought of visiting.

He confesses that he had to learn quickly in the early days and has continued to learn almost every day since, pointing out that Steve Ward is a fine teacher. “Everyone learns when they work with Steve, which is one of the reasons he’s so highly respected in the industry,” says Mike. “Of course, that also means that the Validair badge and name are highly regarded too,” he adds.

The Validair (Euro) team (now known as the Validair Diamond Scientific team) has built a strong platform for the business over the last quarter-century. There’s no doubt that Mike has contributed significantly to that. Everyone at Validair thanks him for that.