company history
Founded in 2000, thecitysecret is the brainchild of Martin Worner, a one-time employee of a big City investment bank. It occurred to him that while out-sourcing work abroad was already accepted practice in the industry, the same could be done to other parts of Britain, without the usual constraints of different time zones and language barriers.

By being located out of the commercial centres, a company's running costs could be cut down, and - if it was based somewhere that people wanted to live - there would be considerable savings in the amount of time and resources spent commuting; a practice that blights modern working life. Convinced that he was not alone with these thoughts, he decided to set up his own business in Richmond - a small market town in the Yorkshire Dales - from a room above a shop with two employees. It paid off and six years later, thecitysecret occupies a couple of smart office conversions, achieves an annual turnover of £2.2million and has 40 employees.
managment profile
managing director

MD, Martin WornerMARTIN WORNER has spent 21 years in the industry working at UBS, and at Morgan Stanley in London, New York and Zurich

While at Morgan Stanley he worked on many different financial applications, covering back office systems, STP projects and spent many years on a Warrants, Convertible Bond and ADR dealing and decision support systems.

After leaving Morgan Stanley (and the City), Martin worked at Wise Speke before founding thecitysecret.

admin and hr

After leaving university Sophie worked in technical sales & admin. With a desire to move into IT, she joined thecitysecret in 2001 working as a trainee developer and assisting with the company admin. During her training she developed various websites and gained an understanding of Software development.

In 2005 Sophie moved into the newly created Human Resources position; thecitysecret had employeed 20 staff and it was becoming necessary to have a member of staff available to look after recruitment and staff welfare. She completed a CIPD qualification to ensure she had the correct knowledge and skills for her new role.

Sophie's technical background and understanding of software development enables her to have a better understanding when recruiting new members of the team, and she also has an insight into the developers daily tasks. Her training and development is continuing and she is currently working towards the CIPD Professional Development Scheme.