Spotlight on Helen Fall

Helen is the Managing Director of Fall Timber . The business was started by Helen’s father, farmer Martyn Fall, in 1977 as a diversification project. Helen and husband, Matthew Barnes took over management in 2015.?

Yorkshire born and bred; Helen is a proud Yorkshire woman from a farming family. As Managing Director of a family business, the full-time working mother of two says the secret is to, ‘Ask for help, build yourself a support network and work towards a shared goal.’?

What do you enjoy about running your own business??

It’s a family business. I enjoy the responsibility of taking it into the future. It’s been a tough couple of years but feeling the pressure keeps my heart in the game. I know I still care.?

I love getting to know our clients and helping them achieve their business goals and successful project outcomes.??

What professional experience did you bring to the business??

"My early career began working in operational roles for Rolls Royce, Deloitte and Credit Suisse. I apply the big business grounding I gained at these global brands, to our family business."?

At Credit Suisse I absorbed a huge amount of knowledge from Kim Goodwin, C Kim G. Learning a best-in-class approach to business processes, how to inspire high performers and manage clients. Kim has been a huge inspiration, and starting out in the early 2000s, gave me a solid grounding in how to navigate being a female in business.?

I’m a mentee of the Be the Business mentoring programme and was fortunate to be partnered with Anna Lee . Having worked at 卡特彼勒 , Anna understands the challenges and opportunities for women in traditionally male industries. We have monthly check-ins and focus discussions on logistics and how to achieve lean operations.?

Operating a family business in challenging times??

Since taking the helm, we’ve had some challenging years. The Covid pandemic, moving from a Partnership to Limited business, the economic downturn, rising fuel costs, uncertain global political climates, cost of living, wage increases – it’s certainly been a demanding time to lead the business.?

But we’ve made progress – securing investment from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund to invest in technology has been key. We also relocated to a new premises - after being based at the family farm since 1977 we now house all our timber in a smart drive through warehouse.?

2027 will mark 50-years of Fall Timber and we’re embarking on our 3-year plan which focuses on – growth, investment in technology and an improved and expanded?workforce.?