Our People

Our founder Jelle grew up in the flowers industry, living in the heart of the Westland area of Holland where his father was a Rose grower. In his early 20’s, Jelle started as a ‘Flying Dutchman’, buying trolly loads of flowers and plants from the Dutch auctions in Aalsmeer and traveling to the UK to sell them to florists in the Yorkshire region.

In the mid-90’s Jelle decided to focus on supermarkets and JZ Flowers was formed in partnership with the Van Duijn Group, which later became Dutch Flower Group. Under Jelle’s leadership, JZ Flowers has grown into a global organisation with offices and production sites in UK, Ireland, Turkey and USA. In 2021, and after 24 years as Managing Director, Jelle took on a new position as Chairman of JZ Flowers.

Tessa grew up working in the family business, but after completing a degree in Economics from Manchester University she decided to start her career in wealth and asset management, working for Barclays in London and Hong Kong. During her 5 years at Barclays she worked as a Private Banker and then moved into Alternatives Portfolio Management, giving her experience in both the buy-side and sell-side of finance. She also studied alongside this and became a CFA charterholder.

Tessa joined JZ Flowers in 2016 to develop opportunities internationally and consequently moved to the US in 2017 to set up and manage all aspects of this exciting new part of the business. After establishing a team to run the operation, Tessa returned to UK in 2018, to head up the Commercial and then the Technical teams. After several years of working alongside the founder Jelle, Tessa then took over as Managing Director in 2021.

Damian joined JZ Flowers in July 2022 having had a 20-year career in Operations, Finance & Supply Chain Director positions. His breadth of industries covers 3PL domestically & internationally, direct retail bricks & mortar and .com delivering outstanding service internally and externally to the likes of Tesco, Screwfix, eBuyer, SC Johnson, Colgate and many others. These roles have encompassed Finance, IT, Operations and Buying, this varied skill set is key to fulfilling his role as CFO within JZ Flowers.

Chelsey has been HR Manager for JZ Flowers since January 2016. She joined the business with a breadth of experience including managing her own business, giving her an appreciation for the entrepreneurial spirit of the business. Chelsey qualified as Associate CIPD and has been practising HR for many years.
Chelsey has overall responsibility for the HR on all our sites, totalling around 850 people, covering Southern Ireland, the UK, and USA.
Although JZ Flowers has grown considerably and seen many changes, Chelsey is proud of our open door policy, and the family feel that is so important to us.

Joanne’s career with JZ Flowers started in 1998, as an Accounts Junior. She has worked her way through the finance ranks, finally taking the lead in 2016, as Head of Finance. Joanne is really proud to have played a key role in the continued development and success of the business as it is today.

Joanne Davison was appointed the Finance Director of JZ Flowers in January 2020, and serves on its Board of Directors and as a member of the Leadership Team. Joanne is responsible for all of the company's finances and group reporting, overseeing IT and Customs functions.

Chris graduated from Newcastle University with a Batchelor degree in Business Management in 2008. He also holds a CIMA Certificate as a management accountant gained in 2016. He is currently undertaking MBA at University of Hull 2021.

Chris spent five years in China, working in a commercial and supply chain capacity for a petrochemicals company before moving into flowers in 2013.

After finishing college in 2003, Vicky started work in the flower industry almost 20 years ago as an agency operative while waiting to join the army. She worked her way up, through areas such as production, planning and logistics in just 10 years.

She has been based at our Hull site for the last seven years, packing for multiple retailers. After taking the position of Newport Site Operations manager in 2013 she has grown and developed as a business leader during the exponential growth we have seen since then.

Jonny is a Certified lead social auditor with a BA in Business from Hull University. He has worked in compliance and ethical trade for over six years, creating JZ Flower’s first ethical trade strategy which saw us awarded a Coop Ethical Trade award in 2018.

He is experienced in supplier risk management, strategic development of ethical trade initiatives, global supplier engagement, capacity building, ethical trade risk assessment and due diligence.

His current role as Responsible Sourcing and Sustainability Manager means he takes responsibility for developing and implementing ethical and sustainable initiatives within our global supply chain.

Natalja Markevica joined JZ Flowers International Ltd. in August 2006 and is responsible for our Irish Operations.

Natalja has a Leadership Diploma, and over 20 years’ experience and expertise in flower manufacturing, supply chain, planning, logistic, procurement and project management. She takes an important role in business progression.

Natalja is driven by her commitment to creating safe and happy working environments, and building trust with customers, local growers, suppliers and the team.

Brittany began her career in flowers as a Sales Assistant for a Miami importer at the age of 22. Her first task was to rebuild the product catalogue. This included learning every type and variety of flowers offered in South America. As her knowledge of the floral industry expanded, she took on many different roles within that company.

In 2017, Brittany was looking for a change and was introduced to the Zwemstras over tea where she was offered the position of Commercial Manager for JZ Flowers USA. Since joining JZ Flowers USA the team has gained supply of over 500 stores with hopes to grow in the future!