Operating Board | Commercial Strategy | ESG lead | Mentor & Coach

Leading Customer Strategy & Planning function covering Revenue Growth Management, Category Management, Brand Marketing and Marketing Activation

Responsible for all Group marketing activities including brand and customer own brand development.

As a rapidly growing and evolving international food and drink group which is a 100% subsidiary of the global conglomerate Mitsubishi Corporation, a Corporate Relations function was created in 2011 and I was requested to head up this division. Report to the CEO of Corporate, a main Board member, and responsible for one direct management report.• Strategic lead for the development and execution of the corporate brand identity and all corporate communications, including M&A.• Proactively manage key stakeholder relationships. • Responsible for the coordination of Group wide Corporate Responsibility activities and the communication of Group achievements. Led the introduction of an Ethical Trade Policy and procedure and the move to the use of only verified sustainable palm oil in our products.• Formed and led the Groups seafood sustainability team, a complex and evolving area that involves expansive cross functional internal and external coordination.• Led Princes engagement in the trade association Canned Food UK and provide strategic guidance to this marketing body to promote and increase usage of canned goods amongst UK consumers.• Managed all retained Group PR agencies for service and to ensure consistency, quality and accuracy of corporate messaging.

Marketing Director responsible for the range of food products imported from around the world including fish, meat, fruit and vegetables manufactured in both our own operations and those of third party suppliers. Additional responsibility for the bespoke marketing team who serviced the customer segment convenience, foodservice and industrial and the research and insight function. Led a team of thirteen reports, four of which were direct.• Developed and executed strategic business and brand plans for the imported sector portfolio.• Responsible for market share and category performance which included achieving record results across fish, meat and fruit.• Development and execution of NPD including research, development, testing and launch plans for new products.• Full marketing mix responsibility, including the execution of the first Princes brand multi media campaign, including National TV, in over a decade.• Led the departmental restructure to align it more efficiently to outputs. This included creating specific brand and category teams. As a result of the success of this restructure a similar approach was soon adopted across all other marketing business units.• Full marketing budget control up to £4m.• Created and managed the research and insight function which supported all data and market research needs across the Group.• Managed the bespoke marketing team that was responsible for the specialist convenience, foodservice and industrial sector of the market.

Working on the Fish portfolio I supported the development of the strategic business and brand plans, in conjunction with the Marketing Director. Key responsibilities and achievements included:• Responsible for the execution of the full marketing mix of activities, monitoring and reporting performance.• Following consumer trends and ensuring brand plans remained relevant, engaging and cost effective.• Brand and own label NPD and launch support plans. This included working closely with suppliers to ensure appropriate products were developed both in terms of flavour and specification. • Development of the product range and marketing plans for a co-pack range of products under the Slimming World brand. Lead contact with Slimming World personnel.• Management of Fish Marketing budget and cost centre.

In 2002 Princes was a divisional business and the Soft Drinks function was head quartered in Bradford. As Product Manager I was responsible for the dilute to taste (squash) portfolio and profit responsible for the Jucee brand. As a core own label supplier category management and own label NPD were integral parts of the role. The role involved extensive analysis and reporting of market and customer data both to internal audiences and customers.

Kavli is a Norwegian owned company managed by a charitable trust, with the UK headquarters based in Gateshead, Newcastle. As part of a small marketing team this role gave access to all areas of trade and consumer marketing. Working closely with sales and a food sales agency, customer and category management were critical to ensure the brand gained and maintained distribution. In this role I supported the Marketing Director to develop and execute brand plans for the core brand ‘Primula’ and latterly integrate an acquired pate company and brand ‘Castle MacLellan’ into the business.NPD and contract packing were both key to growth and I was responsible for the development of the NPD pipeline with support from the in-house product development technologists.

Spent one year on placement with Avon as a Market Research Assistant as part of my degree course. The role was in a busy market research department at Avon’s head office and supported all research and business insight needs. Primarily supporting the Market Research Director and two Research Managers the role included both qualitative and quantitative research. Activities included monitoring media, production of insight and trend reports based on sales data analysis and conducting market research focus groups.