Govi Gill

As part of the Senior Operations Leadership Team, Directly responsible for all the stores within the Midlands and Birmingham area, consisting of 18 Store Managers, 48 Operations Managers, 48 Duty Managers, 40 Sales Design Consultants and 391 Store Colleagues.

Principle accountabilities include:

• Full P&L responsibility of over £120m in sales.
• Prepare a plan to continually develop the business within the region and analyse financial data to track and achieve budget targets.
• Lead, motivate and inspire a team of Store Managers, taking a proactive role in recruitment, performance and career management.
• Review the financial performance of the business to ensure monthly sales, margins, overheads and levels of utilisation are supporting the achievement of the business strategy. Where areas and trends of concern are identified, I ensure appropriate plans exist to rectify promptly.
• Ensure delivery of high-performance standards within the region in order to deliver the budget, compliance.
• Key contributor to refining the strategy, responsible for identifying and proposing innovative solutions to key business opportunities.
• Reduced costs and improve operations by analysing processes and customer feedback.
• Lead overall direction, coordination and evaluation of the region.
• Aid senior leadership by recommending corrective actions and improvements to company operations.
• Organised financial and operational data to help with financial budgeting and planning.

Responsible for leading our Wickes flagship store. In April 2021, Wickes became a PLC, and I was asked to lead this store through to the transformation and subsequent investor visits. These visits were from external and internal stakeholders, which were vital for Wickes. I supported the CEO and CFO in hosting regular investor visits, showcasing our 4C model and the Wickes PLC business.

Principle accountabilities include:

• Leading a team of 7 Managers, 4 Sales Design Consultants and Store 55 colleagues.
• Full P&L Responsibility - delivered sales in excess of £10m
• Regularly presenting to investors (both current and potential)
• Working on a number of business improvement projects
• Helping Senior Management to streamline our business
• Direct feedback to our Board regularly
• Dealing with high level disciplinary, appeals, grievances and other HR cases

Leading 12 Store Managers with over £70m of P&L Responsibility, area covering London and Essex area for a 7 month secondment. This role was offered permanently, however declined due to personal circumstances at the time.

Principle accountabilities include:

• Delivered sales in excess of £70m
• Developing talent within the region
• Succession planning for internal talent
  

Tasked to identify opportunities for cost and productivity efficiencies, design, develop and implement these across the Wickes Estate, saving £5m in the first year.

Principle accountabilities include:

• Prepared and managed project plans from end to end, meeting required milestones.
• Identified and managed budget, timescale and scope changes, recommending actions and improvements to meet project goals.
• Evaluated project risks and feasibility, identifying issues and proactively implementing proposed solutions.
• Developed and maintained project timescales, providing contingency planning to support timely completion.
• Acted as single point of contact for stakeholders.
• Led cross-functional teams in project completion, offering continuous guidance to proactively mitigate delays.
• Managed scope content, informing stakeholders of project scope and change implications.
• Led meetings with both client and internal teams to facilitate and drive project completion and provide status updates.

Providing inspirational leadership, I have experience of managing small, medium and large format stores as a Store Manager.

Principle accountabilities include:

• Managing different format stores with turnovers raging between £4-11m per year, leading a team of 60.
• Presenting to the board & being the lead manager of a roll out of a new stock accuracy initiative which is being phased into the entire estate, which delivers fewer gaps on shelves, improved stock accuracy, reduction in click & collect cancellations and an increase in sales and customer satisfaction.
• Being an influential stakeholder in shaping the business model for years to come, working alongside the Lean Operations department to streamline the business and introduce efficiencies for the estate.
• Reducing costs and maximising profit and performance whilst ensuring the customer experience is enhanced