Senior Retail Executive
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Senior retail executive with 20 years of leadership experience driving performance in the highly competitive beauty and fashion sector. Proven track record of leading large, high-performing teams across the UK, Europe, and Australia, delivering strategic growth through more than 20 new store openings, successful board-level commercial proposals, and the development of strong leadership pipelines.
Commercial Project Manager to Stores Director at Marks & Spencer (2025-09 – 2026-05)
Led performance improvement across the division's 15 lowest-performing Clothing and Home stores, providing targeted commercial support to help reverse results. Coached leadership teams to optimise space management, strengthen process execution, and make more effective use of sales data to drive decision-making and improve performance. Within 12 weeks, 13 of the 15 stores were on track to deliver improved overall business performance.
Academy Store Manager - Cheshire Oaks at Marks & Spencer (2024-04 – 2025-08)
Successfully led the second largest store in the business, overseeing a 148,000 sq ft operation with £86m turnover and 360 colleagues. Strengthened regional capability by delivering regular training for Store Managers in performance management, HR, and leadership excellence, while raising the store's profile through high-impact visits that supported future investment. Maintained consistently high standards across operations, service, and the customer environment, driving continuous improvement and a culture of high performance.
Store Manager - Handforth Dean at Marks & Spencer (2021-09 – 2024-03)
Led the second-best performing store in the business, at 84,000 sq ft and a £94m turnover, home to the number one Food Hall, and delivered 8% sales growth in the first year. Raised the profile of the store through regular engagement with the CEO, Stores Directors, and Heads of Department, while building strong partnerships across Head Office to improve stock availability, strengthen execution, and introduce more efficient ways of working that enhanced the customer experience.
General Role at Marks & Spencer (2021-08 – 2026-05)
Regional Manager at Tommy Hilfiger & Calvin Klein (2021-03 – 2021-07)
Led a 14-store full-price portfolio across the North, spanning Birmingham to Aberdeen, with £15m turnover. Directed rapid regional expansion by opening three new stores within the first three months, with a further three launches delivered shortly after, while ensuring all teams met key milestones and operational commitments. Drove performance across the existing estate through strong ownership of KPIs, HR, people leadership, visual standards, and visit execution, alongside designing robust induction programmes that enabled new managers, supervisors, and teams to deliver successful openings from day one.
Area Manager at Bobbi Brown, Estée Lauder Companies (2020-01 – 2021-02)
Led a 23-store portfolio across the North West and Midlands with £11m turnover, driving commercial growth and raising performance expectations across the region. Increased the area's business mix from 7% to 10% through strong operational leadership, while taking full ownership of HR across the estate, including leading consultation and redundancy processes for more than 70 employees and building manager capability in employee conversations. Strengthened strategic partnerships with key retailers including Selfridges and John Lewis, while leveraging Head Office support and constructively challenging existing ways of working to improve service, execution, and overall business performance.
European Regional Manager at Topshop Topman (2017-07 – 2019-12)
Led a nine-store portfolio across three European countries, ensuring consistent brand execution, customer experience, and operational standards across all markets. Worked closely with Head Office across buying, marketing, merchandising, and operations to shape more market-relevant product, campaign, and store strategies, while pitching and delivering commercial initiatives that improved customer engagement, increased sales, reduced markdown, and strengthened the brand's premium positioning. Recognised as a key trainer for new external managers, helping embed brand standards and leadership expectations consistently across the estate.
General Manager / Amsterdam Flagship Manager at Topshop Topman (2016-07 – 2017-06)
Appointed to strengthen the commercial performance and profitability of the Amsterdam flagship, building on its first year in market and raising standards across the operation. Within 12 months, delivered 30% year-on-year sales growth, reduced payroll costs by 40%, cut controllable costs by 20%, and improved performance through stronger leadership, sharper commercial focus, and closer partnership with Head Office. Also selected to project manage the opening of a second flagship store in Oberhausen, Germany, leading retail delivery across stock planning, recruitment of more than 60 team members and five managers, and coordination of Head Office functions from visual merchandising to operations to ensure a successful launch.
International Support Roles at Topshop Topman (2007-09 – 2019-12)
Selected to represent the business for a series of international support roles across Australia (1yr) Amsterdam (6 months) and Hong Kong (4months) leading new store openings, stabilising early trading performance, and strengthening operational execution. Delivered large-scale recruitment, training, and leadership induction programmes, supported cross-cultural teams through new market launches, and drove improvements in commercial performance, visual standards, and cost efficiency across both new and established flagship locations.
