From graduate job to board member: reaching the top of the retail ranks

Joining a graduate retail programme

After my degree in geography at Bournemouth University, I joined the B&Q graduate training programme, based at a flagship store in Poole. I was happy to be able to stay on the south coast so that I could continue to windsurf. One of the great things about retail is that you don’t have to move to a major city.

The graduate programme lasted for a year: it was mainly store based, but we also took modules to learn about different areas of the business. Before the end of the scheme I was given the chance to take on responsibility in an assistant and then deputy manager role.

From store management to logistics

After two years in store management, there was an opportunity to take on a logistics role – a definite example of being in the right place at the right time! My first position was as a logistics help desk manager.

Different kinds of retailers face different challenges around logistics and stock management: in DIY, for example, stock is relatively slow moving, so it’s essential to be able to forecast demand and supply over long periods of time. If you get it wrong, you can end up tying up a lot of working capital, which can be a disaster.

Moving into fresh food retailing

With several years’ experience behind me, I moved to ASDA. Within a four-year period I held a number of roles, including head of logistics development and regional manager for distribution.

Fresh food and fast-moving consumer goods retail within the UK is as about as dynamic as you can get anywhere in the world: decisions that you make on a Monday can be well past their sell-by date by Friday. As such the emphasis is all on managing the availability of goods with a short shelf life – decision making skills are essential!

Reaching director level

In 2000 I became ASDA’s director of supply, just one step removed from board level. I was now responsible for the replenishment of all food, home and leisure products to every one of our UK stores.

Wal-Mart had recently purchased ASDA, and I was also given the job of integrating the logistics of the two organisations. In the course of a year I travelled to Canada and the US 18 times. It was invigorating to be working with the largest retailer in the world.

Working in a new organisational culture

In 2002 I was headhunted and moved on once again, joining Matalan as their supply chain director. After working for two global retailers, it was a great experience to move to a much smaller organisation: they had a turnover of around one tenth of my previous employer and a relatively small board of executives.

As well as getting to grips with a new area of retail there were other challenges to adapt to. Dynamics vary greatly between different companies as do their organisational structures and available resources.

Helping make Sainsbury's great again

I re-entered the world of largescale food retailing with a move to Sainsbury’s as their supply chain director. Justin King had recently joined as the CEO. I was part of the executive board tasked with ‘making Sainsbury’s great again’ over a three-year time-span.

There were considerable problems in all areas of the supply chain; my job was to overhaul the whole system. At our deadline we were successful. I became the retail and logistics director for the company: in charge of 456 supermarkets, 23 distribution centres and all our transport systems. It has been a long journey since starting on that graduate scheme!