Melanie Roberts Biography 

Melanie is a graduate in Psychology and philosophy from Manchester University, England. She worked for 14 years in the media industry in a wide variety of roles, from recruitment press advertising to senior level agency sales. Melanie has been involved in selling advertising and promotional ideas to industries including; electronics, hospitality and the consumer software industry. The latter role was as the group advertising manager of a European division that controlled 12 magazines; 8 UK and 4 overseas. 

In 1991 Melanie was part of a team of four who successfully launched Carat Business, an advertising agency that specialised in business to business press scheduling and buying. Carat Business was part of the Carat group of companies whose billings in 1994 were $5.8billion (US dollars) across the world. Carat Business itself achieved billings of £22.4 million (pounds sterling) in 1994.  

In 1995 Melanie launched her own business offering recruitment and training consultancy services to the media industry. Sales Associates Ltd. became a recognised brand with an enviable client list and healthy profit margins. It was amongst the first companies to service the online sector whilst retaining classic business systems. 

After selling the recruitment arm of the business in 2002, ‘Behind the Lines’ was born as a training consultancy. Melanie runs this business and is also a hands on mum to two daughters; Josie and Alex. She hopes that her martial arts training in Choi Kwang Do will be useful in later years to keep them in line. 

In December 2006 Melanie gained a postgraduate Certificate in Business Administration from the Open University Business School, which contributes toward her ongoing MBA studies. Her specialist areas are strategy (formulation, analysis and implementation) and organisational processes (including structure, systems and culture) with a special interest in how information is managed within organisations.