PEOPLE 10 MINUTES WITH:
What is your current role and how long have you been doing it?
I’m head of sales, overseeing our national accounts (the likes of Travis Perkins, Jewson, MKM) and I also look after products within the sealing and bonding range. I’ve been head of sales for the last 18 months and worked at Sika Everbuild for the best part of 14 years.
What does your role entail?
My main focus is on looking after our customers and making sure we’re doing whatever we can to make their experience the best it can be. It’s all about building great relationships, which is where I come in. I make sure we’re fully up-to-speed with anything that could impact our customers and proactively find the solution before it becomes a problem. It’s all about good communication and trust - keeping in touch and being transparent. We’re constantly feeding customer comments back to other departments to ensure we’re developing products that meet a genuine need.
How did you get started in this industry? Like a lot of great things, it was a happy accident. I used to be a boat builder and competitive sailor but at the age of about 21 I suffered a back injury which put paid to that. I started in sales at Würth and never looked back - I’ve worked in the construction industry ever since.
Aggregate Industries has announced the appointment of Garrath Lyons as Chief Financial Officer and member of the Executive team. Lyons has been with the business for
four years, having previously held the role of Divisional Finance Director with responsibility for the company’s Aggregates and Asphalt divisions. He replaces John Bowater who has been with the company for 18 years, and who will continue to work with Aggregate Industries as a strategic advisor to the CEO, working on strategic initiatives.
TIM PARSONS
Head of Sales National Accounts & TM Sealing & Bonding, Sika Everbuild
What roles were you doing before and how did they prepare you for this one? My roots are in the trade as I started my career as a boat builder and joiner which gives me an understanding of how our products work in practice. I also spent some time on the other side, working for an independent and buying Sika Everbuild products – which gives me an appreciation of what our merchant customers need too.
What would you like to achieve in your role? For me it boils down to always wanting to be better tomorrow than I’ve been today. It’s always been my goal to be the very best that I can be and this is something I instil in my team. My aim is to make a difference to our customers’ experience and the business as whole.
What has been the highlight of your career? I think it has to have been creating our brilliant sales teams. I’ve been instrumental in putting these teams together and empowering them to always do their best. It’s been fantastic to see the success they’ve had as individuals and as a team, watching them grow and develop and seeing the knock-on benefit this has had on our customers too.
What do you see as the main issues for builders merchants and for construction? I think we’re all well-versed in finding solutions
to challenges after the last few years! I’d say the main issue facing builders merchants is a stagnating market, which has been made worse by materials cost increases, supply issues and chronic skills shortages. Hopefully the next few years will bring greater stability but in the meantime builders merchants need to be outward-looking and one of the big things they can do is improve their digital offering.
If you could go back to the start of your career, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
Slow down and take time to focus on the details. Life moves at a relentless pace and we’re all busy but I’m a firm believer in taking time to check and double check.
What keeps you busy at the weekends? When I’m not tackling a DIY project at home, I’m out and about doing something in the great outdoors with my young family.
If you’re at the bar – what are you drinking?
That’s easy – it has to be a Guinness.
What’s your favourite book? Favourite film?
I’ve recently finished reading Ant Middleton’s ‘Zero Negativity’ which is all about the power of positivity. It was really interesting – I really feel like I learnt a lot.
If you could be a superhero, what super- power would you choose?
To be able to see into the future! Saying that though, the construction industry is incredibly resilient and full of talented people so while I don’t know what’s round the corner, what I do know for sure is that it’s not going to be dull. BMJ
ON THE MOVE
Neoperl UK has appointed Chris Neath as Sales Manager for UK & Ireland. He brings a wealth of experience to the role having worked for the business for almost a decade, joining as a Sales Administrator in 2013, progressing on to Business Development Manager in 2017 His role will be selling business-to-business largely to OEM producers of boilers, showers and taps and to water saving specialists and plumbing installers.
ForgeFix has appointed Stephen Badgery as its new Head of Sales, from Zoo Hardware Ltd, an architectural ironmongery company, where he was Area Sales Manager covering the South
East of England and East Anglia.
Paul Conboy is the new managing director of Beers Timber and Building Supplies Limited and MBS Plumbing and Heating. He has been a director at Beers since 2005. Conboy will also continue in his role as Timber Category Director of the Fortis buying group. Former md Michael Beer now takes on the new role of Group Chairman for the Beers group of companies, which includes Beers Timber and Building, Evans Bellhouse and Tonge Bridge Timber.
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Genna Nelson has been appointed as the new Retail Support Manager for Kudos showers covering the Northwest of England. She will be overseeing display installations
for her showroom customers.
York-based Burton Roofing Group has appointed Tom Wood as its new finance director. Wood joins the Group from Actavo, where he spent seven years with the business.
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net January 2023
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