A month on from swapping ‘proper chocolate’ and Sunday roasts for swimming pools, lakes and baseball, AESSEAL business system manager Shaun Turner and his family have no regrets.

Thirty-five-year-old Shaun, wife Laura (32), and their two sons Toby (six) and Finn (four) have been getting to know their new surroundings in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Shaun’s move from Rotherham HQ to AESSEAL Inc was not one the family made lightly, and they have noticed some big differences between their old and new lives.

“The weather, it’s hotter and we didn’t know that the Great Smoky Mountains were a temperate rainforest so they have a large amount of rainfall and large thunderstorms.

“Everyone is very polite and well-mannered, fuel is a lot cheaper and there’s so much variety of outdoor adventures.

“On the downside, US healthcare is confusing and buying a kettle was a lot harder than it should have been!

“The best things about the move so far are a small addiction to Target. They do really have everything in that store. New places to explore, swimming pools, lakes and sports everywhere, seeing the boys experience all the amazing things that Knoxville and the surrounding areas have to offer, plus Smokies baseball,” Shaun said.

After starting at AESSEAL as an IT support officer in 2013, four years later Shaun retrained with the Project Aurora team, where he stayed for eight years. His main role was in enabling the group’s replacement of Sage Line500 with SAP as its global Enterprise Resource System.

In 2023 he became the business system manager for SAP and says: “I was responsible for the technical architecture of the system, keeping the lights on for the businesses using the system around the globe, process improvements as well as still working on new implementations alongside the other members of the Project Aurora team.”

Shaun, who was educated at The Elizabethan Academy and Retford Post 16 Centre, made the 60-mile daily round trip to Rotherham from his home in a small village where the three counties of South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire come together.

He and Laura had talked about the possibility of moving and eventually came to a big decision – and on May 30 they made the move.

“It was a massive decision to move, with two young boys who were just starting full time education, and Laura had her own business that she’d spent 12 years building from the ground up. I wasn’t an easy decision but we all agreed it was a ‘now or never’ moment.

“We started discussing the opportunity in early 2024, so it took almost 18 months for us, and AES to make sure that it was the right fit for everyone involved, get visas in place and make the move.

“I’ve worked with the team in North America since I started working for AESSEAL Plc back in 2013 from the IT side of the business, and more widely over the last five years.

“They’re a great team to work with and they’ve been great with personal advice throughout the process which made the choice so much easier.

“My role is essentially the same at AESSEAL Inc as it was at AESSEAL Plc. I’m still the business system manager for SAP but being over in Knoxville it allows us to extend the support window for the group ERP system to cover Australia, North America and Canada.

“AESSEAL Inc was the second company onto SAP and have been asking for process improvement opportunities for a while now. Moving to Knoxville allows for those to be actioned,” he said.

The family has moved to the West Knoxville area in Tennessee, roughly 20 minutes away from the AESSEAL Inc office, and Shaun added: “Laura and the boys are currently enjoying the US summer holidays, exploring the surroundings of Knoxville, southern hospitality, the Great Smoky Mountains, Nashville, swimming and any sports they can find.

“The summer holidays here are earlier than in the UK. Running from the end of May to the beginning of August.

“We do miss family and friends back in the UK, proper chocolate, Sunday roast and our personal belongings that are currently in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on a container ship.

“All of our family are back in the UK who we’re planning on visiting during the Christmas holidays and some family members are planning to come out to Knoxville in September to see us.”

KNOXVILLE FACTS:

  • Knoxville is one of the gateways to the Great Smoky Mountains, the most visited national park in the US

  • It has been a settlement since indigenous people arrived between 1000DC and 1000AD and now has a population of more than 190,000

  • It is a repository for Appalachian culture and the Cherokee people have also lived there

  • Summers are hot and humid, with the daily average temperature in July at 78.4 °F (25.8 °C)

  • Winters are generally much cooler and less stable, with occasional small amounts of snow. January has a daily average temperature of 38.2 °F (3.4°C)

  • The area built its fortune on agriculture, then textiles, marble and manufacturing, and has recently undergone an economic rebirth with industrial and residential development