About me
I'm a highly experienced retail expert who’s passionate about people development, innovation, psychology and creating interesting and engaging stories.
I love working as part of teams and organisations that want to find new, interesting ways of doing things and are on a mission to make the world a better place.
Skills
✍️ Communication
I’m a confident communicator and can adapt my style for different audiences and purposes. I can adjust to different tone of voice guidelines and styles as well as move from micro to macro depending on the audience and project status.
📖 Storytelling
Not many people truly understand what makes a great story. As the old journalistic maxim goes: dog bites man, that’s not a story; man bites dog, that’s a story, and in my line of work engagement with the narrative is key.
🤝 Building relationships
Having great relationships with stakeholders across an organisation is the key to being successful at cross functional project management. I build strong relationships quickly at all levels.
🔁 Continuous improvement
I’m rarely content with the status quo. There’s always a better way to do things, and as dynamic professionals, we have to stay one step ahead of trends and developments.
🧩 Complex Problem Solving
I have a passion for solving puzzles and I'm drawn to pattern recognition, logic, problem solving, and thinking outside the box. These skills play a huge part in my approach to a project.
Work history
At Burberry I’m accountable for providing our global store network with programmes and tools to deliver on company strategy.
Translating company goals into to tangible actions for my team to support the business KPIs and leading them through innovation and delivery.
Foundational to my approach is vision. Ensuring all teams understand the value of our approach and are bought in. Have the relevant tools to articulate the approach and can influence the KPIs and know what success looks like.
Once established I promote imagination and agility to foster an environment conducive to innovative and collaborative work.
EU Senior Operations Development Manager at ENJOY Technology. For 3 years at ENJOY I played my part in the growth of the EU Region, ultimately leading a field team of 400+ people through rapid growth. Partnering with the Operational Development team (based in the US) I scoped and integrated new processes, changes, partners and tools with responsibility for the commerce at home strategy in new and existing countries. I also led the national fulfilment team through new process creation, implementation and fulfilment operations.
ENJOY transitioned from a startup and successfully went public on Nasdaq (ENJY) in October 2021. One of the most significant professional goals achieved for me. But also one of equally significant learning.
Some Standout Figures:
- 7 day operation over 23 sites and 450 staff (UK).
- Reduced average 'on hand' holding from £13m to £7.5m over 6 months through process improvement.
- Reduced stock discrepancies from £1.1m to £96k over 3 months.
- Designed and implemented the country's first 'cycle count' process, including reporting, KPIs and ring fenced accountability. This meant clear and defined goals for field leadership in addition to monthly reconciliation with our partners. (For context, this was 2 years after the business began trading meaning massive change.)
- Redefined and designed the "standard" for our sites in terms of merchandising, product protection and presentation.
As Project Lead I managed all new store openings, remodels to existing stores and special projects where a change in layout or store design would have an effect on customer or employee journey through EMEIA and APAC. This included everything from town planning, store layout, logistics and L&D to standing up functions such as global retail support and distribution, as well as Apple inc. priorities such as photography for marcom.
As we expanded the Apple Retail Store footprint the focus on strategic planning increased. I worked with Real Estate & Development on our store designs and functionality. Front of house and back of house.
Leaning heavily on relationships with market leaders and directors, innovation and change management were integral to the success of 80+ projects over a 5 year period.
See the portfolio page for more info.
Starting with Apple Retail in 2008 following a career move out of the music industry I began in store, working my way through all roles until landing in leadership. It was here I learned the skills of situational leadership, promoting psychological security and began my journey into consumer and employee psychology.
Responsible for ER & HR for >130 staff. In addition to grievance, payroll, escalations and development I was accountable for creating personalised learning environments in order to equip our teams with the skills they needed.
Driving revenue through analysis of customer and employee behaviours and rolling out new initiatives was par for the course.
Development manager for 6 music studios, project managing the build and overseeing technical installation. Working on the finances for these studios and collaborating with the owners to ensure profitability was achieved as well as working with artists on their respective projects. I would consult on their production techniques and goals. Having set up several studios and being a published artist myself I dedicated 15 months to developing this recording space and working with the local artistic community.
A&R. Producer. Resident. BA. Voiceover. Writer. Copy checker. Artisit support.
