PEOPLE 10 MINUTES WITH:
What is your current role and how long have you been doing it? My name is Jason Smith and I’m managing director at Okarno, which was known as Artex until recently. I’ve been at Okarno now for just over four years.
What does your role entail? My focus areas are to ensure the safety of all colleagues and visitors to our site, to develop a strategy this is closely aligned to the needs of our customers and make sure that we remain focused on Total Quality Management, meaning we deliver the best products to our customers in ways that suit their changing needs and can demonstrate true value.
How did you get started in this industry? I began my career working across retail businesses such as Spar UK, Sainsburys and Total Oil within global sourcing, buying and procurement. It wasn’t until I joined Saint- Gobain as category director for plumbing and heating that I got into the construction industry almost 10 years ago.
What roles were you doing before and how did they prepare you for this one? Most recently, I was sales director for Saint- Gobain spanning the public sector and social housing. It gave me an insight into why it’s important to make sure branding is clear and reflects what the company offers. To do this I repositioned our offer and launched Jewson Partnership Solutions (JPS) which gave us an identity to build on and a place in the market that our customers understood. This experience helped me when taking the decision to rebrand
Dave Castle, Group Chief Commercial Officer and Managing Director of BSS at Travis Perkins Group has been elected to the Board of the BMF. He began his career with
the Travis Perkins Group began in 2001 as an apprentice and has held a variety of positions.
H+H has appointed Steve Chesney as managing director. He was most recently group md for a manufacturer of industrial and commercial fans. He takes over from Calum Forsyth, who
becomes non executve chairman. 10 JASON SMITH Managing director at Okarno, previously Artex.
from Artex to Okarno, because it sums up our ability to provide sustainable supply chain solutions in the form that our customers need.
What would you like to achieve? Over the next few years we are focusing on making sure we continue to provide merchants with unique, sustainable supply chain solutions. Our goal is to make Okarno the go-to brand when merchants require service excellence and a dedication to environmental sustainability.
What has been the highlight of your career? Definitely the rebrand to Okarno. To see the positive impact this has had on our colleagues, giving them an identity that best represents who we are and what we do. While the name may have changed, Okarno remains dedicated to our colleagues, our customers and their needs. We are the same great business, service, and people that customers have come to rely on.
What do you see as the main issues for builders merchants and for construction? The volatile market merchants find themselves in is difficult to plan for and successfully manage the service level requirements of their customers. The demands of customers change when the pressure is on. We’ve seen this through the evolution of online retailers and how they have really changed all our expectations around service. Merchants and their customers aren’t any different; they want to be able to order a product and receive it quickly. That’s why our customers can choose from single pallets, mixed pallet loads, through to small parcels. They can order as little as a single
Kent Blaxill Builders Merchants has appointed Gavin Welch as its branch manager of its Bury St Edmunds’ site. Following six years with Grant & Stone, firstly in Pinner, North West London
and latterly in Slough, he brings a wealth of merchanting experience to the role.
Talasey has a new director of customer experience, Rob Bullock, whose remit is to look at ways in which the company can improve its “end-to-end” service delivery, to be more
efficient and deliver greater value as a supplier.
pallet, whether that’s a single product, or a mixed pallet of products from across the range. The Okarno Gyproc Express service also allows customers to order a single parcel of product for small and speedy orders.
If you could go back to the start of your career, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
Innovation is driven by the needs of customers. Just because you think it’s a great idea doesn’t mean it is. Listen to your customers!
What keeps you busy at the weekends? I spend most of my weekend taxiing my three boys around to swimming, football, parties etc. But I always manage to carve out a couple of hours for myself and spend that trail running. I’m building the training miles up in readiness for a 100km race in October.
If you’re at the bar – what are you drinking? I like the odd IPA, craft ales or a cold lager generally but enjoy the odd glass of red wine.
What’s your favourite book? Favourite film? My favourite book is by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn called ‘One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich’, such a fascinating read.
I’m not a huge fan of films but ‘Withnail and I’ would be right up there.
If you could be a superhero, which super-power would you choose? I’m not the most organised person at home so I think if I had the ability to see a little bit into the future it would remind me of the things I would otherwise be about to forget
ON THE MOVE
St Andrews Timber & Building Supplies has appointed Jake Valente as its first group operations. Valente steps up into the newly-created role after six years with the family-
run builders’ merchants business, where he was most recently branch manager at its Prestonfield HQ. He has over 40 years of experience in the sector and will take on responsibility for all four branches – Prestonfield and Stenhouse in Edinburgh as well as Livingston and Paisley.
Valente will be replaced as Prestonfield branch manager by Richard Harley, who joined the firm 12 years ago.
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net August 2024
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