Having joined in 2017, Ben led Clarks Shoes’ £1bn-revenue, 9,000 colleague-strong European business, which spans retail and wholesale. He was responsible for customer-centric investments including a new European fulfilment centre; delivering significant digital expansion and increasing colleague engagement.
Prior to joining Clarks Shoes, Ben was at Walgreens Boots Alliance for six years, most recently as managing director of Boots Opticians. Under his leadership, which included the introduction of a new customer proposition, Boots Opticians consistently grew market share, revenue, profit and EBITDA year-on-year. Ben also held the roles of finance director for Boots UK & Ireland and commercial finance director for Boots UK.
Between 1999 and 2011, Ben held a series of senior finance positions at Procter & Gamble worldwide, including global finance director for the company’s $2bn-turnover Salon Professional business based in Geneva. In this role, he was a senior member of the team leading the successful integration and reorganisation following P&G’s acquisitions of Wella and Clairol.
Ben, who is currently a non-executive board member at the British Retail Consortium, also leads Shop Direct’s 150-strong finance team.
