PEOPLE
10 MINUTES WITH: MEGAN GARDINER
Branch Manager, Howarth Timber & Building Supplies, Bury St Edmunds
What is your current role and how long have you been doing it? I’ve been the Bury St Edmunds branch manager for Howarth Timber & Building Supplies since 1st August 2018.
What does your role entail? Day-to-day, I oversee all aspects of branch management including sales, staff, stock and security. I also organise regular in- branch events such as open evenings to get customers involved and ensure maximum success for the branch.
How did you get started in this industry?
I was very lucky to have had excellent managers who offered me my first role within the merchant industry, which was in admin in August 2015. I then worked my way up to my current position as branch manager at Howarth Timber & Building Supplies.
What roles were you doing before and how did they prepare you for this one? Four months after beginning my first merchant industry role in admin, I moved over to the sales team. I was then promoted to the senior sales team in the spring of 2016 and subsequently landed my first assistant branch manager role in March 2017. In summer 2017 I was headhunted by Howarth Timber & Building Supplies to be the assistant branch manager at a new site which was opening in October 2017 in Bury St Edmunds. I was then promoted to my current position as branch manager of this site in August 2018. Having both a sales and admin background has helped me enormously and given me a head start on branch management.
What would you like to achieve in your role?
Bury St Edmunds is Howarth Timber & Building Supplies’ largest branch, being approximately 4.5 acres, so I’m incredibly proud to be entrusted with such a huge challenge at 24 years old. My biggest career goal however is opening a new branch in a new area, and operating it successfully and profitably.
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What has been the highlight of your career so far?
Becoming the youngest branch manager of the biggest Howarth Timber & Building Supplies site has to be my career highlight, especially having worked in the industry for a relatively short period of time.
What do you see as the main issues for builders merchants and for the construction industry at the moment? Younger staff taking an interest and coming into the industry is definitely an issue, but I do think it’s something that can be rectified if we work towards showing more young people, particularly women, that the industry is diverse – my motto is ‘aspire to inspire’, and it’s something I’m really passionate about. Another issue which I think the industry has needed to adapt to quickly is online purchasing – websites such as Amazon & Ebay have become an unexpected competitor for builders merchants as they make it incredibly easy to buy almost anything.
If you could go back to the start of your career, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
I wouldn’t change anything – I’ve had my ups and downs but these have all made me the person and manager I am today.
Football, rugby, cycling, golf or gardening – what’s likely to keep you busy at the weekends?
I have a keen interest in countrylife and sports, so you would be more likely to find me clay shooting and horse riding.
If you’re at the bar – what are you drinking?
Definitely Sauvignon Blanc.
What’s your favourite book? Favourite film?
The Greatest Showman is my favourite film – it has a fantastic story line.
If you could be a superhero, what super- power would you choose? I’d choose invisibility as I’d love to go anywhere I wanted without being seen.
ON THE MOVE • Previously area sales
manager at Actis, John Buckley has been promoted to regional sales director and he has been joined by new area sales manager, Tom Hendzel. In addition to
overseeing sales operations across the south western region, Buckley will be in charge of the West Midlands and South Wales.
• Andy Whitney has celebrated 40 years working at East Anglian merchant Kent Blaxill. He joind the company in 1978 and has had variety of management roles selling building
and decorative materials. As decorative sales manager, he now spearheads the growth of Kent Blaxill’s decorative paint business, with nine new branches opened since 2014, taking the current total to 16.
• Building services supplier Brymec has appointed Martin Spowage as a key account manager. He has previously worked for 24 years for distributor BSS, first as a sales supervisor and then as branch supervisor at BSS Lewes.
• Rudridge has appointed Charlotte Caplin-Hill as its Financial Accountant at its Farnham head office. Caplin-Hill will be working closely with the Commercial Finance Manager and the Finance Assistant.
• Sunderland-based Salamander Pumps has appointed Lee Dunphy as Business Development Manager, following a successful year of growth for the company.
• Marshalls’ group marketing director Chris Harrop has been awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours in recognition of his work on the prevention of modern slavery and exploitation. Harrop has
spearheaded Marshalls’ efforts to eliminate child labour and bonded labour from its global supply chain – particularly in countries such as India, China and Vietnam – as well improving working conditions.
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