What is your career background?

I joined John West from RHM’s Manor Bakeries, where I looked after its business with Tesco for three years. I was director of customer development, with a 300-strong van force. Before that I was director of customer strategy at the company.

Previous experience has included Unilever, Cadbury and Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising. At Unilever I was business unit manager for Asda, Somerfield, Kwik Save and Waitrose.

At Cadbury I worked in sales and was a national account manager for Woolworths which, at the time, was Cadbury’s biggest customer.

My roles at Cadbury gave me a passion for brands.

What is your role at John West?

Simply put, to manage its relationship with its retail customers.

What projects are you working on?

The global tuna catch is significantly down so we are working to guarantee supply. Fortunately, we have a very big supply chain so we can make sure we don’t let anyone down.

Other than that, I would like to manage the best trained, best paid team in the industry, so my focus is on improving core skills. We are increasingly sharing our plans with customers, ensuring the team understands all their needs.

What are the main challenges of your job?
 
Everyone is looking to make more profit this year than last year, so the biggest challenge is coming up with profitable growth for everybody.

What do you most enjoy about your job?

Fish is a miracle food. It’s low in fat and low in carbohydrates and it contains omega-3 oils, so it more than meets the government recommendations for healthy eating. 

I joined John West to do more to highlight that fact and to ensure that we deliver fish to UK consumers in a form they find delicious to eat.