Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
There’s a new CEO at independent sixth-generation family-run builders merchant The Bence Group in Cheltenham. The company has revealed a new senior leadership structure to drive its next phase of growth.
Managing director Paul Bence moves into the newly created Chief Executive Officer role, and will focus more on strategy, and the Group’s overall direction, long-term development and supporting the Board as the business continues to grow.
His replacement as managing director is Kris Winters, who brings more than 24 years’ experience across the merchanting sector with senior leadership positions at both independent and national merchants across the UK and Ireland. His experience covers sales and operations, from running large networks of branches across the South East and London to country leadership of external sales teams.
Also joining the SLT is Xalla Heath as sales director, who will take responsibility for sales and margin performance across the business, and brings with her a decade of experience working in the region with two major UK suppliers to the merchanting sector and has extensive sales and commercial experience.
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.
Winters 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.”
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, as Kris says, making sure we’re consistently putting the customer at the centre of what we do.”
The group has also made changes to strengthen its operations and focus with Carlwyn Coombes appointed group operations director, formalising a role he has effectively been occupying 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.
