"When starting out as a Food Science graduate in 1984, I had no idea that in 2009 I would have one of the largest sales director roles in the UK but the Company has been instrumental in supporting me to make the cross functional, horizontal and vertical moves necessary to make this happen.”
Location:
Uxbridge, UK
Current role:
UK Sales Director
“As a Food Scientist from Leeds University, I joined Cadbury Schweppes on the Graduate Programme in 1984, initially with responsibility for developing new Schweppes products for the Japanese market. This primarily involved laboratory work in North London, creating drinks with the flavour profile that matched what the commercial team wanted, whilst meeting all regulatory requirements; the chosen formulations then required scaling up to pilot plant and in-market factory trials. This was a great start to my career as it threw me into real project, whilst exposing me to different cultures. Over the course of the next few years, my responsibilities expanded to include SE Asia and some Northern, Central and Southern European countries.
During this time, I enjoyed my exposure to the Commercial team to the extent that I was keen to move from R&D to Marketing and in 1988 I was given this opportunity when I was appointed Assistant Brand Manager, Coca-Cola at Coca-Cola & Schweppes Beverages Ltd, the UK bottler for Coke and Schweppes brands. This was a significant cross-functional move that required effectively starting from scratch in a very new discipline but has proved to be one of the most important steps that I have taken in my career to date.
After 18 months I moved within the Marketing function to become the Trade Marketing Manager for Convenience stores, which marked a shift in focus from the consumer to the customer and then in 1991 I took my first sales role as National Account Manager for Victoria Wine and Peter Dominic, an off licence chain that has now ceased to trade. In these 2 roles, I really enjoyed the results focus and the clear visibility of my actions, such that I felt I was able to make a real difference to the performance of the Company.
The ensuing years saw me continuing to develop my career across Sales and Trade Marketing roles, including time spent in Independent Retail and the Licensed Trade prior to be me being appointed as the Account Director for Tesco in 1996, now working for Coca-Cola Enterprises who Cadbury Schweppes had sold it’s drinks business to. This was another landmark moment in my career as Tesco were embarking upon a new way of working with a small number of major suppliers, including Coca-Cola. This entailed leading a cross functional “business unit” to define a more strategic and collaborative relationship and consequently afforded me access to senior management in both Coke and Tesco and hence build a deep understanding of the vision, strategy and culture of the UK’s leading retailer.
In 1997, I became Marketing Director of CCE which essentially retained my involvement in Trade Marketing disciplines for the whole business but also entailed some brand marketing for brands such as Capri-Sun, Appletiser, Vittel and Perrier. Whilst great personal development, I missed the customer environment and was pleased, in 2000, to become the Home Trade Sales Director, a role that accounted for c.60% of the business and encompassed the Grocery and Convenience Channels.
Having worked in soft drinks since graduating, for Cadbury Schweppes and Coca-Cola, I thought my career would benefit from broadening to another product category and so, in 2001, I moved back to Cadbury Schweppes on the confectionery side of the business, as Retail Sales Director, which had a very similar customer remit but in very different business given the reliance upon the Easter and Christmas periods. Upon joining, Cadbury were really clear about what experiences and skills would be required for me to progress and so, in line with this, I became the Impulse Sales Director in 2003, with responsibility for c.40% of the turnover but a significant field sales team of c.500 people. This was a new but very rewarding experience and allowed to develop my skills in leading large teams of people."