Philippine based investment conglomerate with core activities including; retail, banking, property development, construction, mining, as well as, leisure and entertainment. SMIC has a market capital circa $25 billion. The retail division (SM Retail), incorporates; 63 department stores, 356 super/hypermarkets, over 520 convenience stores and more than 1,380 speciality stores – including in-house, franchise and JV’s, such as; Sports Central, Ace Hardware, Our Home, Watsons, Miniso, Uniqlo, Forever 21, Bata, Ecco, Simply Shoes, Body Shop etc. Recruited by Tessie Sy Coson, vice-Chairperson (Forbes - "Top 50 most powerful women in the world"), to deliver strong retail performance in parallel with development of The SM Store merchandise and operations executive. Core focus included, leading the formulation of clear trading strategy and driving business critical change through consultation (and buy-in), of key stakeholders – realigning this market-leading business to continue to succeed in a rapidly changing marketplace. Key Achievements:• Achieving strong double-digit sales growth – exceeding annual profit forecasts. • Developing new store formats / concepts – targeting more affluent demographic customer base.• Delivering huge category and space productivity increases – Shoes, Mens, Home etc.• Developing and executing effective global standard marketing and visual merchandising strategies.

Leading Saudi Arabian franchise operator - trading 70 international brands in over 1600 stores across MENA, Central Asia and Caucasus. Listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange with annual revenue exceeding $1.2billion. Reporting to the group COO, my leadership resulted in a major transformation of existing brand performance, as well as, delivery of an aggressive store/country expansion plan – establishing one of the largest global GAP partnerships. I had full accountability for developing the business and managed all aspects of the brand. Key Achievements:• Trebling sales over two and a half years – exceeding targets despite tremendous macro challenges.• Expanding the brand into 7 countries across the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and Caucasus regions, with successful launches in; Egypt, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Azerbaijan and, Armenia. • Building a high calibre senior team (Brand Controller, Operations Manager, Senior Merchandise Manager, Marketing Manager, Visual Merchandise Manager), capable of delivering the business plan.• Building excellent personal relationships with key function heads and, Senior Vice President at GAP Inc. – ensuring ongoing positive relations and, maximum commercial benefit.• Project managed the opening of over 20 new stores (across multiple countries), in a two-year period.• Successfully concluded contract negotiations with GAP Inc. to secure multiple new territories.

Bin Dawood Group is a multi-million dollar family owned, Jeddah based business – the core hypermarket and supermarket business (incorporating, both Danube and Bin Dawood formats), having significant market share. Reporting to both the CEO and Chairman, I held two major responsibilities, as above. As Head of Retail Operations, I was required to provide strategic leadership and direction for all supermarket operations, (30 stores, 2,500 staff) – introducing numerous change and space management initiatives in support of huge performance turnaround. As General Manager, responsible for launching the company’s prestigious new department store concept - Etre - with over 200 designer brands, my leadership role was all-encompassing – devising; organisational structure, category management hierarchies, business and marketing strategy and effective operating practice. Key Achievements:• Delivering space productivity growth of between 30% and 200%+, for targeted non-food categories. • Successfully launching a ‘start-up’ business – opening two mid-high end department stores and delivering excellent standards of; operation, visual merchandising, buying and VIP customer service.• Negotiating ‘concession contracts’ - resulting in $100,000’s additional income, in the first year alone.• Project managing store build with international architects and shop-fitters, as well as local suppliers.• Devising and implementing a 6-month clearance strategy for approx. $8m of obsolete stock. • Managing group-wide recruitment of 2-3,000 overseas workers each year – predominantly from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Philippines and Syria. Accountable for all agent and candidate selection process.

20 - 130 stores, over 1000 staffM.H Alshaya (subsidiary of Alshaya International Trading), focuses upon franchising over 55 world renowned brands within the fashion and footwear, food services, health and beauty, optics, pharmacy and, home furnishing sectors. Retail operations cover more than 2,000 stores, spread across 19 countries both in the long established territories within the Middle East, North Africa and eastern Europe. Brand portfolio includes: H&M, Next, Debenhams, Footlocker, Mothercare, BHS, Topshop, River Island, Boots, Pottery Barn and, Starbucks. Initially, as Regional Operations Manager, I had direct accountability for nine UK and Italian contemporary and designer fashion brands – Topshop / Topman, Dorothy Perkins, Principles, Peacocks, Oasis, Coast, Oltre, Motivi and, Liz Claiborne. Key to success was the delivery of high standards of operation and development of a stable team – equipping the business for ongoing rapid expansion.

16 sites, over 100 staffThe UK’s leading fast-fit vehicle servicing provider – trading in over 600 locations with more than 10,000 staff. The company specialises in tyres, brakes, exhausts and MOT testing etc. Annual revenue of circa $1.4 billion. Accountable for optimising regional profitability through strong coaching, development and leadership oversight of all centre activities – quickly and consistently topping company ranking for sales and margin performance.