PEOPLE NEWS ON THE MOVE...
ERA Appoints new head of marketing West-midlands security firm ERA has appointed Tania Tams as head of marketing to oversee the communications and marketing activity across the company’s distribution channels. Having previously held the position of marketing manager, the promotion will see Tania work closely with group marketing & innovation director, Will Butler to help develop the ERA brand.
Commenting on her new role, Ms Tams
enthused: “During my time with ERA, I have gleaned a lot of insight into the company, its products and the fantastic team we have here. I am delighted to be taking on the role of head of marketing and am confident that my knowledge and passion for ERA will ensure I can hit the ground running, as I take this next step in my career.”
Smart Garden Products expands sales & marketing team Following a 50% increase in European sales last year, Smart Garden Products has grown its team. It has appointed
Anastasia Le Meme
to its export department to help with the huge increase in sales orders, which are already tracking ahead of last year, said the company. Meanwhile, Nancy Padbury
joins
the UK sales administration team to help look after national accounts, and Olivia Vine has taken up a new role of sales executive to manage UK mail order and internet
accounts. An internal appointment sees Hannah Knott transfer from accounts to join the marketing team as marketing assistant, helping to support the Marketing and NPD teams.
Mark Portman makes move to Scotts Gardman group sales director and former Henkel UK MD, Mark Portman has replaced Sheila Hill as Scotts Miracle Gro UK & Ireland general manager. Mr
Portman joined Gardman in
August 2017, having spent seven years at Henkel Consumer Adhesives, where he was general manager UK Ireland & Nordics. Prior to that he held a number of roles at Premier Foods over an eight- year period. He replaces Sheila Hill, who took up
the role of general manager in 2015. It was announced last month that she had left Scotts after more than 20 years with the company.
The news follows the acquisition of Scotts Europe and Australia by Exponent Private Equity LLP in September 2017.
Chris Pateman resigns as Chairman of HTA The HTA Board have today announced that Chris Pateman has left his post as Chairman of the HTA due to family reasons. Mr Pateman said: “I find a number of family issues are now requiring my attention and the long commute had made it harder than anticipated. As a result, I no longer feel able to contribute to the HTA as I would have wished. In my short tenure with the HTA, it has been both a privilege and a pleasure to have witnessed the enthusiasm of the HTA teams.” President of the HTA, Adam Taylor, said: “We are sorry to see Chris go but we understand his situation and wish him all the best for the future. The Board will be discussing the vacancy in the near future.”
6 DIY WEEK 23 MARCH 2018
10 minutes with... Mike Lind
Monkton Elm managing director and new GCA chairman, Mike Lind.
How did you get to where you are today? My first introduction to horticulture was a plant pathology degree but I decided I wanted a career dealing with people, so I went into law. I practised in South Africa, working mainly in commercial mediation, before coming to England 20 years ago. I was introduced into garden centre retailing through my wife’s side of the family, who were responsible for founding Monkton Elm. As part of their succession plan, I moved out of the legal business and came to the garden centre.
I’ve really gone full circle
coming back to horticulture but I think it’s probably the best way to do it. When I was nominated by colleagues to become GCA chairman, I was honoured because so many people have been in the industry far longer than me. I have been president of the Regional Law Society and held chairmanship roles before, so I had that experience to draw on.
How do you spend an average working day? For my GCA role, we usually have a weekly management call and have an executive meeting every two months but every day tends to be different, where I can be out visiting a garden centre and meeting members, or speaking to members on the phone and handling press enquiries. It is about being flexible. At Monkton Elm I am very lucky to have a great management team. I am probably on site about three to four days a week but also do some legal work of my own on other days.
I like to describe myself as a
modern day professional, who is making the most of technology. I try to balance everything and find time with the family. Technology means that, instead of traveling all the time, I can use video conferencing.
What are your plans for your new role? Under previous chairman Julian Winfield of Haskins, we made quite a few changes; transitioning new members and settling them in. My role is to make sure all of those changes are properly embedded. Strategically that is very important. As an industry
we are doing our bit to reduce our disposable waste and I am working with the HTA on that. I want the GCA to liaise closely with other associations, like the RHS and HTA. There are a lot of similarities and commonalities, so I want us to be approachable and contactable.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given? A young judge in South Africa once said: “do everything to the best of your abilities but keep things simple and be honest to yourself. Have humility in the way you approach your tasks and people.” It’s my guiding principle - we are all human beings and have a story to tell. I try to treat everyone equally and as I would like to be spoken to. It’s one of the reasons I didn’t pursue a career in litigation, as it can be a really unfair process. I focused instead on mediation because that is about the ability to talk to each other. You have to be a good listener and be able to read between the lines.
Favourite thing about working in the industry? It is an enormously collaborative scene. There is lots of will to support and to share ideas with
each other. It’s a very competitive sector and we all want to succeed but there has never been a day where someone hasn’t been able to pick up the phone and share their problems and get the support they need.
What are the biggest issues facing the industry today? Brexit and the macroeconmic situation will have an impact with currency fluctuations and trying to retain competitiveness in an uncertain wider European future. There is also the threat of
Xylella, and, finally, the
competition from online and the larger businesses trying to create a destination but we just need to keep innovating to stay ahead.
What do the next
months hold for the sector as a whole – are you optimistic or pessimistic? We’re off to a slow start with the first few months colder than usual but spring always brings an opportunity. I think the year will be positive. As long as the sun is shining, we will be there. And, so many of our members have made an investment in catering, which is really strong and a unique feature in our businesses.
www.diyweek.net 12
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36
