The Bence Group has unveiled a new senior leadership structure to drive the Group’s next phase of growth as the sixth-generation family business enters its 173rd year.
The changes span the Group's businesses in Cheltenham, Ledbury and Swindon, alongside Obsidian Interiors and Bence Windows and Doors, and are designed to sharpen the focus on profitable growth, sales performance, operational efficiency and technology.
Paul Bence, previously Managing Director, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer. This move is to a more strategic role focused on the Group's overall direction, long-term development and supporting the Board as the business continues to grow.
Kris Winters has been appointed as Managing Director bringing more than 24 years' experience across the merchanting sector with senior leadership positions at independent and national merchants across the UK and Ireland. His professional experience covers Sales and Operations from running large networks of Branches across the South East and London to country leadership of external sales teams.
Winters will lead the Group's strategy and execution focusing on growing market share and profitable growth to further strengthen the Bence Group as the Number 1 local merchant across their expanding operating area.
Winters, Managing Director, said: "I'm delighted to join Paul and the team at Bence. The business has a fantastic heritage and tremendous local reputation with tradespeople. There is a real opportunity to build on the strengths that already exist within the business while being very clear about where we need to improve and the opportunities for growth.
"My focus will be on execution with the customer at the heart of everything we do – starting from our strategy, customer and colleague experience in our branches underpinned with strong commercial focus and accountability across all parts of our business.
"We know the market remains challenging but with the best people, commercial disciplines and best local service staying closer to our customers than our competitors we will be well placed to take market share and advantage of the opportunities that exist."
The Group has also appointed Xalla Heath as their new Sales Director taking responsibility for sales and margin performance across the business. Heath brings a decade of experience working in the region with two major UK suppliers to the merchanting sector and has extensive sales and commercial experience.
Her remit will include driving sales volumes, enhancing the sales process both in Branch and across the external sales team through consistency, elevating the sales culture and performance across the Group's branches.
Heath said: "There is a huge amount of experience and knowledge within the business, and my role will be about bringing greater focus to sales & margin performance, developing our teams and to the point made by Kris making sure we're consistently putting the customer at the centre of what we do.
I'm looking forward to working with our branch teams and customers, turning the opportunities we have into tangible growth."
Operations and technology have been given greater focus with Carlwyn Coombes being appointed Group Operations Director, formalising a role he has effectively been carrying for some time.
Coombes will continue to oversee operations and technology across the Group, with his more than 15 years' experience within the business providing valuable knowledge as the organisation continues to grow. His focus will be on ensuring the Group's operational infrastructure, systems and processes support its people and customers effectively, while creating a platform for further growth.
The wider leadership structure will also see Elaine Emerton continue as Group Financial Controller, with responsibility for the day-to-day finance function across the Group's multiple branches, while Chris Bence continues as Chairman.
Paul Bence, CEO, said: "This is all about having a sharper focus on a changing market. We have a great team and a great opportunity ahead of us. The new structure gives us superior clarity around responsibility and allows each part of the business to receive the focus it needs.
We remain very proud of our heritage as a sixth-generation family business, but our focus is firmly on the future and building a business that will continue to succeed for the next generation. We now have clear senior accountability across the areas the Group believes will be critical to its future performance."
