Headlam Group Makes Senior Appointments

The UK’s leading flooring distributor, Headlam Group, makes a new Executive Team appointment and two internal changes to its leadership team. These appointments form part of the Group’s ongoing customer-led growth strategy, which is evolving the way Headlam will continue to do business, strengthening its customer commitment and offering greater efficiency and effectiveness for its customers and suppliers.

James Heese – Chief Buying Officer

Following the centralisation of Headlam’s buying team, including the incorporation of its Brands Product Team, James has been brought on as a member of Headlam’s Executive Team to bring strategic vision and direction to all buying processes. He will play a critical role ensuring Headlam ranges the right products for its various customer types, with the right suppliers at the right price.James brings with him a wealth of buying experience, previously working for companies including Travis Perkins Wickes, Argos and Homebase. He joins the Headlam team from his previous role as Commercial Director and a member of the Executive Team at SCS plc. A role where he was responsible for all elements of the product proposition and supplier relationships, as well as the quality assurance and environmental elements of the company’s ESG agenda.

Paul Sewell - Managing Director – Independent Retail

With the national Mercado sales team and the integration of its Brands Sales Teams into the wider business, Headlam is unifying its sales teams under one Managing Director.Paul Sewell, formerly the Brands Sales Director, has been promoted to Managing Director of Independent Retail, with responsibility for the Mercado and Brand Independent Retail sales teams. Bringing with him a wealth of sales, leadership and flooring industry experience, having worked for brands such as M&S, Virgin and Carpetright, Paul has spent over a decade in flooring retail.  In his last role as Stores Director for Carpetright he was responsible for the store estate of almost 300 stores across the UK and Republic of Ireland. Paul will be invaluable in unifying our teams to better serve the Group’s independent retailer community.

John Clark – Transformation Director

To drive the Group’s focus on becoming more efficient and effective to deliver for its customers, John Clark has been promoted to Transformation Director.John moves from his existing role for as Managing Director - Mercado Residential. John’s over 30 years of industry and Headlam experience put him in a strong position to drive the company’s growth plan forward. With unparalleled industry knowledge, John will help to ensure that Headlam undertakes the right change in the right way to deliver on its customer promises.

Commenting on the appointments, Headlam CEO Chris Payne says, ‘To ensure we remain market leaders in our category, we recognise the need to invest in people. These appointments will enable us to continue to strengthen our customer commitment and deliver for customers and suppliers.  James, Paul and John are all highly qualified individuals who collectively have decades of invaluable experience under their belts. It’s an exciting chapter at Headlam and we look forward to seeing their impact in their respective areas.’

Source : Headlam Group

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