Martin Lill has some 33 years of experience in the PPE industry, focused on chemical protective clothing, and working in sales, marketing, product development, and product certification.
Starting in 1991 with Orvec Ltd, Martin worked in sales and product development of the company’s range of disposable protective clothing, eventually running the protective clothing part of the business. Orvec later became Microgard Ltd, subsequently bought by Ansell. Much of the chemical suit range now sold by Ansell was originally developed, and still maintains some of the unique features introduced by Martin in the nineties.
In 2001 he joined Lakeland, founding Lakeland Europe in the UK, the company’s first sales and warehousing operation outside North America. After certifying a basic CE product range, he managed the European business until 2015, whilst gradually expanding the product portfolio – always aiming to ensure differentiated product with unique features, while employing and managing a team of salespeople across Europe.
In 2016 he moved into an international marketing role, developing sales enablement tools, planning and organising trade show booths, and travelling globally to assist the company’s regional sales divisions in developing local markets, increasingly involved in training both Lakeland and distributor sales teams, with the objective of enhancing Lakeland’s perceived expertise and brand in the market.
In recognition of this, and the depth of knowledge relating to chemical protection acquired over three decades, Martin has more recently moved into a role even more focused on training and on promoting the Lakeland brand through speaking spots at related conferences and trade shows. He firmly believes that whilst Health and Safety is necessarily a serious and somewhat dry subject, that is no reason why explaining it to others cannot also be fun, and his presentations approach subjects from a different angle and are often uniquely entertaining – to the extent that at a recent training conference he was billed as “Veteran Safety Entertainer”.
Martin is based in the UK, has 3 daughters, and whilst not travelling, lives between a cottage on the Northeast coast of Yorkshire, and a 46’ narrowboat called Vega.
