Moneypenny is bringing a little bit of Britain to Atlanta by transferring two of its team and creating a mini- Wrexham community with the appointment of Ela Bayraktar as Marketing Manager and Stephanie Vaughan Jones as Head of Business Development. Both Ela and Stephanie have between them been at Moneypenny in their UK offices in Wrexham (UK) for 20 years and are very much looking forward to their new roles in the Moneypenny Atlanta offices where they will be responsible for supporting the growth and development of the business.

Moneypenny in Atlanta is expanding rapidly and is also recruiting for a new head of marketing and many other roles. Recognizing the value and importance of connecting culture, Moneypenny, is linking its Atlanta and Wrexham, UK, headquarters through an exchange program, with team members spending time in their sister country getting to know each other as well as the quirks and customs of being part of a global family.

Stephanie Vaughan Jones has recently moved to Atlanta on a long placement commented: “I jumped at the opportunity to work abroad and experience new ways of working, and Atlanta is an amazing place to live and work. I can’t get over how welcoming everyone has been and how vibrant the business scene is. Just as Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds have have bought a touch of American spirit to Wrexham, we will be bringing a touch of Britishness to Atlanta.”

Of course, there are a few words commonly used on either side of the Pond, which Ela and her colleagues have put together to help their colleagues...

A guide for those lost in translation (British in bold)

Underwear - Pants

Pants - Trousers

Bangs - Fringe

Toilet - Loo

Semi - Lorry

Trunk - Boot (car)

Chips - Crisps

Cell - Mobile

Band aid - Plaster

Trash Can - Bin

Some UK expressions to amuse or confuse:

Low-hanging fruit - The easiest set of tasks to be achieved

Blinder - An excellent performance

Cut corners - To do something the easiest or fastest way

Call it a day - Decide to stop something

Go the extra mile - Make more effort than is expected

At the end of the day - When everything is considered

As of yet - A deal is still being worked out, but nothing is finalized

Close of play - 5:30pm

ATLANTA VS WREXHAM

And here’s how the two HQ locations measure up:

Atlanta United FC:

Founded in 2014

Play at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, 71,000 capacity

The Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Training

Ground is a 33-acre site

Wrexham A.F.C. (now owned by Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds):

National League (fifth tier)

Founded in 1864 (the third oldest professional football team in the world)

Play at the Racecourse Ground, 10,771 capacity

7-acre training ground at Colliers Park

Atlanta United FC Industries:

Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, AT&T, UPS, Chick-fil-A

Wrexham A.F.C. Industries:

Moneypenny, JCB, Magellan Aerospace

Kellogg’s, Cadbury, Sharp, Brother

Atlanta:

498,725 population (within city limits)

Wrexham:

65,692 population

Filmed in Atlanta:

Stranger Things, The Walking Dead, The Hunger Games, Black Panther, Loki, Divergent

Filmed in North Wales:

Wonder Woman 1984, Doolittle, The Legend of Tarzan

People born in Atlanta:

Julia Roberts, Chloë Grace Moretz, Chris Tucker, Gladys Knight, Dwight Howard

People born in Wrexham:

Adrian Holmes, Robbie Savage, Tim Vincent, Amy Guy, Leon Pownall

Buried in Wrexham: Elihu Yale (benefactor of Yale University)

Atlanta Media:

WXIA-TV 11 (NBC), WGCL-TV 46 (CBS), WSB-TV 2 (ABC),and WAGA-TV 5, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Atlanta Business Journal, Gwinnett Daily Post, GwinnettForum

Wrexham Media:

BBC Cymru Wales, ITV Wales, Daily Post, Wrexham Leader, Wrexham.com

Atlanta Museum:

High Museum of Art

Wrexham Museum:

Tŷ Pawb

Atlanta food: 

Barbecue, Southern fried chicken and lemon pepper chicken wings

Wrexham food:

Roast chicken, pork pies

Eric Schurke, CEO of North America, comments: “Celebrating our differences helps to unite and educate us. It helps us understand others’ perspectives and broaden our own. This may be a bit of fun, fueled by our US/UK office exchange program but in fostering this we foster a culture of growth and learning, resilience, and agility and above all respect.”

Global experts McKinsey predicts that the global labor market will be in excess of 3.5 billion by 2030, bringing with it a further change in this ever-evolving business landscape. One that means working across countries and time zones but one that will help us to harness the power of new perspectives, backgrounds and experiences which make us all unique as individuals, never mind nations.