Country Range Group has promoted current head of trading Dean Pendlebury to the newly created role of buying director as of 1 January 2026.
Pendlebury joined the business in 2013 and has been “instrumental in building the group’s buying power up to £360m, its purchasing strategy, tenders, trading compliance and the development of the widely acclaimed three-tiered own brand portfolio”, the group said.
His career in buying spans over 17 years, starting out at Cranswick where he worked in junior buyer and buyer roles. In his 12 years at the Country Range Group, Pendlebury has carried out category buyer, senior buyer and head of trading roles.
In his new role, Pendlebury will be responsible for executing and implementing the group’s buying plan in line with its updated five-year strategy, and increasing the sales value of the three-tiered own brand portfolio to £250m by 2030.
“Dean has been pivotal in our recent success and in helping us take our collective purchasing power past the £360m mark, so we’re delighted to announce him as our new buying director,” said Country Range Group CEO Martin Ward.
“He’s innovative, hard-working, diligent and thoroughly deserves this opportunity as we look to retain talent and further strengthen our head office team.”
Pendlebury added: “It’s a great honour to be made the Country Range Group’s new buying director and I truly believe it couldn’t be at a more exciting time for the group. We’ve really starting to see the benefits and value of our collective power and it’s a real pleasure to work with such a great set of people, not just in our central office but across our membership.”
His appointment comes as the wholesale buying group recently hit its £1bn turnover target two years ahead of schedule. It now plans to further strengthen its central office buying and wider team in 2026.
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