Headquarters:
Warehouse Way, Northcote
Year founded:
1982
Number of employees:
12,000
Phone:
0210361026
Email:
siena.goldwater@thewarehouse.co.nz
Website:
thewarehousegroup.co.nz
LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/company/the-warehouse-group
"We are constantly living by our core values: integrity, impact and teamwork"
Julie Giraldi,
CAAT Pension Plan
Read on
IB Top Brokerages
Award Winner
SHIELDED INSURANCE BROKERS
Award Winner
The Warehouse Group
Nick Grayston
Chief Executive Officer
Tania Benyon
Chief Product Officer
Jonathan Oram
Group Chief Financial Officer
Leadership
“For us, retailing is all about people. Our Team Members know that working for The Warehouse Group means putting our customers at the heart of all that we do, and making a positive difference within our local communities,” says Nick Grayston.
He was appointed chief executive of TWG in January 2016. He had moved to New Zealand from Chicago where he had held leadership roles with Sears Holdings, including president of footwear, home, fine jewellery and apparel. At Sears, he was responsible for leading change from traditional retail into omnichannel and integrated retail, building profitable businesses, driving operational turnarounds, changing business models and leading high-performance teams. Prior to Sears, Nick held senior executive positions with Foot Locker companies, including president and chief executive of Foot Locker, Footaction and Kid’s Foot Locker in New York and other leadership roles in Canada and Europe. He has also held planning, allocation and merchandising roles at a number of leading retailers in the United Kingdom including Laura Ashley, Woolworths, Debenhams and Marks & Spencer.
Chief Executive Officer
Nick Grayston
Tania Benyon began her retailing career as a product manager for Noel Leeming Group (NLG) in 1999, becoming merchandise manager for the company before joining TWG when she moved to Warehouse Stationery in 2007 as general manager, merchandise.
In her role as chief product officer, Tania is responsible for sourcing and building the best assortment of products for customers across brands including The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery and Noel Leeming. Previously, she held a range of senior executive positions within the Group, including executive general manager merchandise and marketing at The Warehouse, and a director of the group’s chocolate subsidiary, Waikato Valley Chocolate.
In 2014, she was appointed CEO Group Sourcing Support in addition to her role as executive general manager trading for The Warehouse. In that role, Tania oversaw the day-to-day trading of The Warehouse as well as product sourcing and supply across the Group, leveraging its scope and scale in the New Zealand market to create and source innovative products that Kiwis need at everyday low prices.
Chief Product Officer
Tania Benyon
TWG appointed Jonathan Oram to the role of Group CFO in March 2018. Jonathan’s responsibilities include business advisory, financial reporting and planning, risk and compliance, and governance functions across the Group. He is also the sponsor of TWG Business, the commercial channel for the Group.
Jonathan has had a career of over 20 years in finance, most recently with leadership roles at Macquarie Capital and UBS New Zealand in investment banking. He is a certified Chartered Accountant and holds a Master of Commerce in Economics from the University of Auckland.
Group Chief Financial Officer
Jonathan Oram
SPECIAL REPORT
Home
Bio
“We are constantly living by our core values: integrity, impact and teamwork”
Julie Giraldi,
CAAT Pension Plan
“Now, we have much more frequent recognition awards because we want to celebrate people staying at CAAT and recognize the contributions that they bring to the organization”
Julie Giraldi,
CAAT Pension Plan
Read on
Award Winner
THE WAREHOUSE
GROUP
Jonathan Waecker
Chief Customer and
Sales Officer
Tania Benyon
Chief Product Officer
Nick Grayston
Chief Executive Officer
Leadership
Headquarters:
Warehouse Way, Northcote
Year founded:
1982
Number of employees:
12,000
Phone:
0210361026
Email:
siena.goldwater@thewarehouse.co.nz
Website:
thewarehousegroup.co.nz
LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/company/the-warehouse-group
“For us, retailing is all about people. Our Team Members know that working for The Warehouse Group means putting our customers at the heart of all that we do, and making a positive difference within our local communities,” says Nick Grayston.
He was appointed chief executive of TWG in January 2016. He had moved to New Zealand from Chicago where he had held leadership roles with Sears Holdings, including president of footwear, home, fine jewellery and apparel. At Sears, he was responsible for leading change from traditional retail into omnichannel and integrated retail, building profitable businesses, driving operational turnarounds, changing business models and leading high-performance teams. Prior to Sears, Nick held senior executive positions with Foot Locker companies, including president and chief executive of Foot Locker, Footaction and Kid’s Foot Locker in New York and other leadership roles in Canada and Europe. He has also held planning, allocation and merchandising roles at a number of leading retailers in the United Kingdom including
Laura Ashley, Woolworths, Debenhams and
Marks & Spencer.
Chief Executive Officer
Nick Grayston
Tania Benyon began her retailing career as a product manager for Noel Leeming Group (NLG) in 1999, becoming merchandise manager for the company before joining TWG when she moved to Warehouse Stationery in 2007 as general manager, merchandise.
In her role as chief product officer, Tania is responsible for sourcing and building the best assortment of products for customers across brands including The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery and Noel Leeming. Previously, she held a range of senior executive positions within the Group, including executive general manager merchandise and marketing at The Warehouse, and a director of the group’s chocolate subsidiary, Waikato Valley Chocolate.
In 2014, she was appointed CEO Group Sourcing Support in addition to her role as executive general manager trading for The Warehouse. In that role, Tania oversaw the day-to-day trading of The Warehouse as well as product sourcing and supply across the Group, leveraging its scope and scale in the New Zealand market to create and source innovative products that Kiwis need at everyday low prices.
Chief Product Officer
Tania Benyon
Jonathan Waecker has been with TWG since 2017. Beginning in the role of chief marketing officer, Jonathan became the chief customer and sales officer in 2021 following his appointment as chief customer officer in February 2020. He is responsible for maximising customer experiences and sales within The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery and Noel Leeming brands. In addition, he is responsible for attracting, engaging and retaining customers through marketing, communications, customer experience and e-commerce activities, leading brand strategy and driving customer engagement across the Group’s portfolio of brands.
Prior to joining TWG, Jonathan was based in San Francisco as vice president of marketing communications at Yahoo!, the fourth largest online property in the world at the time, reaching over one billion users every month. In that role, Jonathan led the fully integrated team responsible for delivering all marketing communications during a critical turnaround period for the company, winning numerous industry awards while driving revenue and results for the business and brand.
Prior to Yahoo!, Jonathan spent time in global marketing, brand strategy and business development roles at Zynga and The Walt Disney Company, two of the world’s most engaging and digitally innovative consumer brands. He has been named one of Brand Innovators’ 40 Under 40, received an MBA in Corporate Strategy from HEC Paris, a second MBA in Global Finance from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and graduated from San Diego State University.
Chief Customer and Sales Officer
Jonathan Waecker
SPECIAL REPORT
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Bio
For the second year running, Shielded Insurance Brokers has claimed the number-one spot among IB’s Top Brokerages. In 2020, it was record-setting growth that drove the company’s impressive success. This year, says managing director Stuart Brady, the key ingredient behind the win is the Shielded culture. Brady is proud of the shared vision for constant improvement across all aspects of the business. “We are thrilled to take out the win again, and it’s hats off to the team for their hard work over the past year,” he says.
“Now, we have much more frequent recognition awards because we want to celebrate people staying at CAAT and recognize the contributions that they bring to the organization”
Julie Giraldi,
CAAT Pension Plan
“We are constantly living by our core values: integrity, impact and teamwork”
Julie Giraldi,
CAAT Pension Plan
Read on
Award Winner
THE WAREHOUSE GROUP
Sarah Kearney
Chief Digital Officer
Tania Benyon
Chief Product Officer
Nick Grayston
Chief Executive Officer
Leadership
Headquarters:
Warehouse Way, Northcote
Year founded:
1982
Number of employees:
12,000
Phone:
0210361026
Email:
siena.goldwater@thewarehouse.co.nz
Website:
thewarehousegroup.co.nz
LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/company/the-warehouse-group
SPECIAL REPORT
Home
Bio
“For us, retailing is all about people. Our Team Members know that working for The Warehouse Group means putting our customers at the heart of all that we do, and making a positive difference within our local communities,” says Nick Grayston.
He was appointed chief executive of TWG in January 2016. He had moved to New Zealand from Chicago where he had held leadership roles with Sears Holdings, including president of footwear, home, fine jewellery and apparel. At Sears, he was responsible for leading change from traditional retail into omnichannel and integrated retail, building profitable businesses, driving operational turnarounds, changing business models and leading high-performance teams. Prior to Sears, Nick held senior executive positions with Foot Locker companies, including president and chief executive of Foot Locker, Footaction and Kid’s Foot Locker in New York and other leadership roles in Canada and Europe. He has also held planning, allocation and merchandising roles at a number of leading retailers in the United Kingdom including Laura Ashley, Woolworths, Debenhams and Marks & Spencer.
Chief Executive Officer
Nick Grayston
Tania Benyon began her retailing career as a product manager for Noel Leeming Group (NLG) in 1999, becoming merchandise manager for the company before joining TWG when she moved to Warehouse Stationery in 2007 as general manager, merchandise.
In her role as chief product officer, Tania is responsible for sourcing and building the best assortment of products for customers across brands including The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery and Noel Leeming. Previously, she held a range of senior executive positions within the Group, including executive general manager merchandise and marketing at The Warehouse, and a director of the
group’s chocolate subsidiary, Waikato Valley Chocolate.
In 2014, she was appointed CEO Group Sourcing Support in addition to her role as executive general manager trading for The Warehouse. In that role, Tania oversaw the day-to-day trading of The Warehouse as well as product sourcing and supply across the Group, leveraging its scope and scale in the New Zealand market to create and source innovative products that Kiwis need at everyday low prices.
Chief Product Officer
Tania Benyon
Jonathan Waecker has been with TWG since 2017. Beginning in the role of chief marketing officer, Jonathan became the chief customer and sales officer in 2021 following his appointment as chief customer officer in February 2020. He is responsible for maximising customer experiences and sales within The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery and Noel Leeming brands. In addition, he is responsible for attracting, engaging and retaining customers through marketing, communications, customer experience and e-commerce activities, leading brand strategy and driving customer engagement across the Group’s portfolio of brands.
Prior to joining TWG, Jonathan was based in San Francisco as vice president of marketing communications at Yahoo!, the fourth largest online property in the world at the time, reaching over one billion users every month. In that role, Jonathan led the fully integrated team responsible for delivering all marketing communications during a critical turnaround period for the company, winning numerous industry awards while driving revenue and results for the business and brand.
Prior to Yahoo!, Jonathan spent time in global marketing, brand strategy and business development roles at Zynga and The Walt Disney Company, two of the world’s most engaging and digitally innovative consumer brands. He has been named one of Brand Innovators’ 40 Under 40, received an MBA in Corporate Strategy from HEC Paris, a second MBA in Global Finance from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and graduated from San Diego State University.
Chief Customer and Sales Officer
Jonathan Waecker
For the second year running, Shielded Insurance Brokers has claimed the number-one spot among IB’s Top Brokerages. In 2020, it was record-setting growth that drove the company’s impressive success. This year, says managing director Stuart Brady, the key ingredient behind the win is the Shielded culture. Brady is proud of the shared vision for constant improvement across all aspects of the business. “We are thrilled to take out the win again, and it’s hats off to the team for their hard work over the past year,” he says.
Jonathan Waecker
Chief Customer and Sales Officer
Jonathan Waecker has been with TWG since 2017. Beginning in the role of chief marketing officer, Jonathan became the chief customer and sales officer in 2021 following his appointment as chief customer officer in February 2020. He is responsible for maximising customer experiences and sales within The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery and Noel Leeming brands. In addition, he is responsible for attracting, engaging and retaining customers through marketing, communications, customer experience and e-commerce activities, leading brand strategy and driving customer engagement across the Group’s portfolio of brands.
Prior to joining TWG, Jonathan was based in San Francisco as vice president of marketing communications at Yahoo!, the fourth largest online property in the world at the time, reaching over one billion users every month. In that role, Jonathan led the fully integrated team responsible for delivering all marketing communications during a critical turnaround period for the company, winning numerous industry awards while driving revenue and results for the business
and brand.
Prior to Yahoo!, Jonathan spent time in global marketing, brand strategy and business development roles at Zynga and The Walt Disney Company, two of the world’s most engaging and digitally innovative consumer brands. He has been named one of Brand Innovators’ 40 Under 40, received an MBA in Corporate Strategy
from HEC Paris, a second MBA in Global Finance from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and graduated from San Diego State University.
Chief Customer and Sales Officer
Jonathan Waecker
Jonathan Oram
Group Chief Financial Officer
TWG appointed Jonathan Oram to the role of Group CFO in March 2018. Jonathan’s responsibilities include business advisory, financial reporting and planning, risk and compliance, and governance functions across the Group. He is also the sponsor of TWG Business, the commercial channel for the Group.
Jonathan has had a career of over 20 years in finance, most recently with leadership roles at Macquarie Capital and UBS New Zealand in investment banking. He is a certified Chartered Accountant and holds a Master of Commerce in Economics from the University of Auckland.
Group Chief Financial Officer
Jonathan Oram
Jonathan Oram
Group Chief Financial Officer
TWG appointed Jonathan Oram to the role of Group CFO in March 2018. Jonathan’s responsibilities include business advisory, financial reporting and planning, risk and compliance, and governance functions across the Group. He is also the sponsor of TWG Business, the commercial channel for the Group.
Jonathan has had a career of over 20 years in finance, most recently with leadership roles at Macquarie Capital and UBS New Zealand in investment banking. He is a certified Chartered Accountant and holds a Master of Commerce in Economics from the University of Auckland.
Group Chief Financial Officer
Jonathan Oram
Sarah Kearney
Chief Digital Officer
Originally from the UK, Sarah started at TWG in August 2017 as general manager for e-commerce and became the chief digital officer following her appointment as a tribe lead for customer engagement in February 2020.
Sarah’s customer experience obsession began when she was 16 years old during her first job in retail. She believed then, and still does today, that we all deserve seamless experiences that not only meet but exceed our individual needs and desires. Sarah loves her role because she gets to work with amazing teams who continuously challenge how we can add value through delivering exceptional digital experiences for our customers.
Prior to joining TWG, Sarah was based in Singapore as senior vice president of growth and optimisation for Lazada Group, the leading e-commerce platform and flagship platform of the Alibaba Group in Southeast Asia. In her role, Sarah had the privilege of leading an integrated team across seven markets, where she was responsible for driving onsite optimisation and brand campaigns to deliver revenue, conversion and basket growth.
Sarah brings a wealth of knowledge in strategic e-commerce and customer engagement into her current role, as well as sharing her passion for customer experience through innovation, transformation and data with the TWG team, to help play our part in helping Kiwis live better every day.
Chief Digital Officer
Sarah Kearney
Sarah Kearney
Chief Digital Officer
Originally from the UK, Sarah started at TWG in August 2017 as general manager for e-commerce and became the chief digital officer following her appointment as a tribe lead for customer engagement in February 2020.
Sarah’s customer experience obsession began when she was 16 years old during her first job in retail. She believed then, and still does today, that we all deserve seamless experiences that not only meet but exceed our individual needs and desires. Sarah loves her role because she gets to work with amazing teams who continuously challenge how we can add value through delivering exceptional digital experiences for our customers.
Prior to joining TWG, Sarah was based in Singapore as senior vice president of growth and optimisation for Lazada Group, the leading e-commerce platform and flagship platform of the Alibaba Group in Southeast Asia. In her role, Sarah had the privilege of leading an integrated team across seven markets, where she was responsible for driving onsite optimisation and brand campaigns to deliver revenue, conversion and basket growth.
Sarah brings a wealth of knowledge in strategic e-commerce and customer engagement into her current role, as well as sharing her passion for customer experience through innovation, transformation and data with the TWG team, to help play our part in helping Kiwis live better every day.
Chief Digital Officer
Sarah Kearney
Jonathan Waecker
Chief Customer and
Sales Officer
Originally from the UK, Sarah started at TWG in August 2017 as general manager for e-commerce and became the chief digital officer following her appointment as a tribe lead for customer engagement in February 2020.
Sarah’s customer experience obsession began when she was 16 years old during her first job in retail. She believed then, and still does today, that we all deserve seamless experiences that not only meet but exceed our individual needs and desires. Sarah loves her role because she gets to work with amazing teams who continuously challenge how we can add value through delivering exceptional digital experiences for our customers.
Prior to joining TWG, Sarah was based in Singapore as senior vice president of growth and optimisation for Lazada Group, the leading e-commerce platform and flagship platform of the Alibaba Group in Southeast Asia. In her role, Sarah had the privilege of leading an integrated team across seven markets, where she was responsible for driving onsite optimisation and brand campaigns to deliver revenue, conversion and basket growth.
Sarah brings a wealth of knowledge in strategic e-commerce and customer engagement into her current role, as well as sharing her passion for customer experience through innovation, transformation and data with the TWG team, to help play our part in helping Kiwis live better every day.
Chief Digital Officer
Sarah Kearney
The Warehouse Group (TWG) is a true New Zealand success story, having grown from a single The Warehouse store in 1982 to become one of the largest retailers in the country. Today, the Group has over 12,000 employees and 260+ retail stores across six core retail brands.
Amidst the challenges of 2021, extended lockdowns meant another period of adjustment for retail businesses and employees across the country. With the COVID-19 Protection Framework in place and shoppers starting to return to stores, TWG is now increasing its efforts in training and upskilling its staff to find its next generation of leaders.
People development has been a core focus for TWG throughout the last 24 months. The Group has developed and launched learning pathways for all our store roles with support office craft specific learning currently in development.
The store pathways are focused on skills that are essential across the different retail brands. These include onboarding, retail 101, customer service, product knowledge, compliance, role-based, store management and people leadership. This is all housed on TWG’s MyLearning platform. In addition, we have three leadership development programmes with a targeted focus on developing younger store employees, preparing them for future leadership roles. In total, TWG has spent in excess of 156,000 hours on training its teams in FY21 (approximately 11.7 hours of training per person).
TWG store leadership programmes focused on developing our existing and emerging store leaders, with nearly 60 graduates taking part in the first round. All TWG team members can also access an External Learning Fund to upskill in any area of work they would like, encouraging further development.
Diversity, inclusion and equity have also been a core focus for the Group this year, having added four key pillars to its strategy: Te ao Māori, belonging, gender equality and future of work. As an iconic Kiwi business, TWG strives to embody what it means to be Kiwi.
Our kaupapa in the Māori culture space is centred around growing te reo and embracing te ao Māori. In 2021, we continued building on our Māori culture group, launched a series of te reo Māori courses in partnership with MIT, and continued the Te Kaa training programme for senior leaders. This provides fundamental knowledge about Māori culture and how to consider this when making decisions throughout the organisation.
TWG continues to grow into 2022 with the recruitment team hard at work attracting talent in a competitive market. Leveraging our employee brand, they created a digital talent attraction campaign utilising social media with great success. They built on this success with the ‘seasonal peak’ campaign attracting talent in the scarcest talent pool we have seen in decades. In 2021 over 300 young learners come through TWG’s gateway pathways. Attracting talent and offering ongoing internal career development will continue to be a key focus in FY22.
In order for TWG to promote the Group employment awareness and attractiveness they focused on four key pillars: our people, our community, our planet and our business.
TWG’s talent attraction campaign in 2021 showed above market average results, and we are looking forward to continuing our growth throughout 2022.
This optimistic view reflects TWG’s vision of being ‘Here for Good’ and represents the company’s commitment to better living for all New Zealanders through sustainable retail products and practices and a customer-first ethos.
“Now, we have much more frequent recognition awards because we want to celebrate people staying at CAAT and recognize the contributions that they bring to the organization”
Julie Giraldi,
CAAT Pension Plan
Justus Wilde
CEO of TheMarket
Simon West
CEO of Torpedo7
Edwin Gear
Chief Information Officer
Richard Parker
Chief Human Resources Officer
Justus Wilde is a digital retail executive with 20 years of experience working in consultancy, technical and business leadership roles across Australia, the US, Hong Kong, China and New Zealand. He was most recently based in Hong Kong and Shanghai as chief technology officer for MyMM, a joint venture between Wharf Holdings, Lane Crawford Joyce Group and eCargo. In this role, he was responsible for product, engineering and service, building a team from scratch and successfully launching a comprehensive marketplace platform product.
Prior to this, Justus founded e-commerce consultancy Amblique in 1999 and grew it into a leading agency servicing major retail groups and global brand owners. Amblique was recognised as one of Australia’s top 100 fastest growing companies by Business Review Weekly three years in a row and has won a number of awards for its clients. In 2013, STW Group, now WPP ANZ (ASX:SGN), acquired a minority stake in the business and in 2015, eCargo (ASX:ECG) acquired the entire business.
In 2012, Justus brought the world-leading SaaS-based Demandware platform to Australia and New Zealand and became the local reseller for the technology that is powering many of the world’s most successful retail brands online. Justus sat on the Demandware partner advisory board for four years. Demandware was acquired by Salesforce in June 2016. He relocated his family to Auckland in 2018 when he joined TWG as CEO of TheMarket.
CEO of TheMarket
Justus Wilde
Simon West has 20 years of experience in retail and technology, operating in both a CEO and non-executive director capacity. He has most recently held a non-executive director position at TradeMe and was an executive director at Max Fashions. Other roles have included CEO of EziBuy. He is currently a director of Onceit (online fashion) and Adairs, which is listed on the ASX. Simon officially joins Torpedo7 as CEO in August 2022.
CEO of Torpedo7
Simon West
Edwin Gear joins the group executive team of TWG as chief information officer. Edwin brings a wealth of retail IS experience, most recently being the CIO of Metcash Australia, and has held prior roles in New Zealand with Mitre10 and Foodstuffs. Alongside this, he has extensive operational and broader business experience and has a strong track record of delivering change and building and leading teams. His appointment will bring certainty, focus and leadership for the IS team.
Chief Information Officer
Edwin Gear
Richard Parker joined TWG in March 2019 as general manager, people experience, remuneration and ER. In August 2020, he was promoted to CHRO, a role where he is responsible for attracting and retaining world-class retail talent by making TWG the best place to work in New Zealand.
Previously, Richard held a number of senior HR and corporate legal roles at several leading organisations in the country. Richard began his career as a litigation lawyer at Chapman Tripp before moving to Fletcher Challenge as corporate legal counsel where he was involved in significant mergers and acquisitions and corporate restructuring activity for the forestry division.
Subsequent to Fletcher Challenge, he held senior HR roles at Telecom (now Spark) as general manager, HR service delivery and assistant general counsel ER, and then at TVNZ as general manager, people and talent. Richard holds an LLB (Hons) and MPhil (Hons) from the University of Auckland.
Chief Human Resources Officer
Richard Parker
Justus Wilde
CEO of TheMarket
Richard Parker
Chief Human Resources Officer
Edwin Gear
Chief Information Officer
Simon West
CEO of Torpedo7
Justus Wilde is a digital retail executive with 20 years of experience working in consultancy, technical and business leadership roles across Australia, the US, Hong Kong, China and New Zealand. He was most recently based in Hong Kong and Shanghai as chief technology officer for MyMM, a joint venture between Wharf Holdings, Lane Crawford Joyce Group and eCargo. In this role, he was responsible for product, engineering and service, building a team from scratch and successfully launching a comprehensive marketplace platform product.
Prior to this, Justus founded e-commerce consultancy Amblique in 1999 and grew it into a leading agency servicing major retail groups and global brand owners. Amblique was recognised as one of Australia’s top 100 fastest growing companies by Business Review Weekly three years in a row and has won a number of awards for its clients. In 2013, STW Group, now WPP ANZ (ASX:SGN), acquired a minority stake in the business and in 2015, eCargo (ASX:ECG) acquired the entire business.
In 2012, Justus brought the world-leading SaaS-based Demandware platform to Australia and New Zealand and became the local reseller for the technology that is powering many of the world’s most successful retail brands online. Justus sat on the Demandware partner advisory board for four years. Demandware was acquired by Salesforce in June 2016. He relocated his family to Auckland in 2018 when he joined TWG as CEO of TheMarket.
CEO of TheMarket
Justus Wilde
Simon West has 20 years of experience in retail and technology, operating in both a CEO and non-executive director capacity. He has most recently held a non-executive director position at TradeMe and was an executive director at Max Fashions. Other roles have included CEO of EziBuy. He is currently a director of Onceit (online fashion) and Adairs, which is listed on the ASX. Simon officially joins Torpedo7 as CEO in August 2022.
CEO of Torpedo7
Simon West
Edwin Gear joins the group executive team of TWG as chief information officer. Edwin brings a wealth of retail IS experience, most recently being the CIO of Metcash Australia, and has held prior roles in New Zealand with Mitre10 and Foodstuffs. Alongside this, he has extensive operational and broader business experience and has a strong track record of delivering change and building and leading teams. His appointment will bring certainty, focus and leadership for the IS team.
Chief Information Officer
Edwin Gear
Richard Parker joined TWG in March 2019 as general manager, people experience, remuneration and ER. In August 2020, he was promoted to CHRO, a role where he is responsible for attracting and retaining world-class retail talent by making TWG the best place to work in New Zealand.
Previously, Richard held a number of senior HR and corporate legal roles at several leading organisations in the country. Richard began his career as a litigation lawyer at Chapman Tripp before moving to Fletcher Challenge as corporate legal counsel where he was involved in significant mergers and acquisitions
and corporate restructuring activity for the
forestry division.
Subsequent to Fletcher Challenge, he held senior HR roles at Telecom (now Spark) as general manager, HR service delivery and assistant general counsel ER, and then at TVNZ as general manager, people and talent. Richard holds an LLB (Hons) and MPhil (Hons) from the University of Auckland.
Chief Human Resources Officer
Richard Parker
Justus Wilde
CEO of TheMarket
Edwin Gear
Chief Information Officer
Simon West
CEO of Torpedo7
Richard Parker
Chief Human Resources Officer
Justus Wilde is a digital retail executive with 20 years of experience working in consultancy, technical and business leadership roles across Australia, the US, Hong Kong, China and New Zealand. He was most recently based in Hong Kong and Shanghai as chief technology officer for MyMM, a joint venture between Wharf Holdings, Lane Crawford Joyce Group and eCargo. In this role, he was responsible for product, engineering and service, building a team from scratch and successfully launching a comprehensive marketplace platform product.
Prior to this, Justus founded e-commerce consultancy Amblique in 1999 and grew it into a leading agency servicing major retail groups and global brand owners. Amblique was recognised as one of Australia’s top 100 fastest growing companies by Business Review Weekly three years in a row and has won a number of awards for its clients. In 2013, STW Group, now WPP ANZ (ASX:SGN), acquired a minority stake in the business and in 2015, eCargo (ASX:ECG) acquired the entire business.
In 2012, Justus brought the world-leading SaaS-based Demandware platform to Australia and New Zealand and became the local reseller for the technology that is powering many of the world’s most successful retail brands online. Justus sat on the Demandware partner advisory board for four years. Demandware was acquired by Salesforce in June 2016. He relocated his family to Auckland in 2018 when he joined TWG as CEO of TheMarket.
CEO of TheMarket
Justus Wilde
Simon West has 20 years of experience in retail and technology, operating in both a CEO and non-executive director capacity. He has most recently held a non-executive director position at TradeMe and was an executive director at Max Fashions. Other roles have included CEO of EziBuy. He is currently a director of Onceit (online fashion) and Adairs, which is listed on the ASX. Simon officially joins Torpedo7 as CEO in August 2022.
CEO of Torpedo7
Simon West
Edwin Gear joins the group executive team of TWG as chief information officer. Edwin brings a wealth of retail IS experience, most recently being the CIO of Metcash Australia, and has held prior roles in New Zealand with Mitre10 and Foodstuffs. Alongside this, he has extensive operational and broader business experience and has a strong track record of delivering change and building and leading teams. His appointment will bring certainty, focus and leadership for the IS team.
Chief Information Officer
Edwin Gear
Richard Parker joined TWG in March 2019 as general manager, people experience, remuneration and ER. In August 2020, he was promoted to CHRO, a role where he is responsible for attracting and retaining world-class retail talent by making TWG the best place to work in New Zealand.
Previously, Richard held a number of senior HR and corporate legal roles at several leading organisations in the country. Richard began his career as a litigation lawyer at Chapman Tripp before moving to Fletcher Challenge as corporate legal counsel where he was involved in significant mergers and acquisitions and corporate restructuring activity for the forestry division.
Subsequent to Fletcher Challenge, he held senior HR roles at Telecom (now Spark) as general manager, HR service delivery and assistant general counsel ER, and then at TVNZ as general manager, people and talent. Richard holds an LLB (Hons) and MPhil (Hons) from the University of Auckland.
Chief Human Resources Officer
Richard Parker
Stewart Smith joined TWG in March 2019 as EGM for strategic projects, where he is responsible for guiding the business in key strategic growth domains and new venture development. He has a wealth of international retail experience, having worked in senior executive positions across multiple disciplines within some of the world’s largest, customer-centric retailers. Most recently, he was a senior consultant at the Egremont Group, where he led a strategic change program for one of America’s largest retail and healthcare businesses. Prior to that, he played a pivotal role in a business turnaround for a leading UK convenience retail and wholesale business, leading to its sale to the Cooperative Group. Stewart spent nine years at Tesco working across multiple business units for the UK and international markets, including creating and running an international business start-up.
General Manager, Strategic Projects
Stewart Smith
Ian Carter joined TWG in 2019. Beginning in the role of executive general manager of operations, Ian was appointed chief store operations officer in 2021. He is responsible for developing and implementing store operation strategies that maximise store sales and deliver exceptional in-store experiences for customers.
Ian has an extensive background in leading large retail operations and empowering customer service and property teams. He moved to New Zealand in 2019 from the UK, where he held leadership roles with McKesson, Halfords and B&Q. Prior to joining TWG, Ian was based in the UK at McKesson, a large pharmaceutical health care provider, as director of operations. At McKesson, he was responsible for reviewing and redefining the retail support operations functions to help deliver transformative change within the group.
Prior to McKesson, Ian spent six years at Halfords, leading large retail operations and empowering customer service and property teams. As group retail and property director, Ian was responsible for the profitable operation of 455 stores, managing key teams and leading the development and implementation of the five-year strategic plan.
Chief Operations Officer
Ian Carter
Ian Carter
Chief Operations Officer
Stewart Smith
General Manager, Strategic Projects
Stewart Smith
General Manager, Strategic Projects
Ian Carter
Chief Operations Officer
Stewart Smith joined TWG in March 2019 as EGM for strategic projects, where he is responsible for guiding the business in key strategic growth domains and new venture development. He has a wealth of international retail experience, having worked in senior executive positions across multiple disciplines within some of the world’s largest, customer-centric retailers. Most recently, he was a senior consultant at the Egremont Group, where he led a strategic change program for one of America’s largest retail and healthcare businesses. Prior to that, he played a pivotal role in a business turnaround for a leading UK convenience retail and wholesale business, leading to its sale to the Cooperative Group. Stewart spent nine years at Tesco working across multiple business units for the UK and international markets, including creating and running an international business start-up.
General Manager, Strategic Projects
Stewart Smith
Ian Carter joined TWG in 2019. Beginning in the role of executive general manager of operations, Ian was appointed chief store operations officer in 2021. He is responsible for developing and implementing store operation strategies that maximise store sales and deliver exceptional in-store experiences for customers.
Ian has an extensive background in leading large retail operations and empowering customer service and property teams. He moved to New Zealand in 2019 from the UK, where he held leadership roles with McKesson, Halfords and B&Q. Prior to joining TWG, Ian was based in the UK at McKesson, a large pharmaceutical health care provider, as director of operations. At McKesson, he was responsible for reviewing and redefining the retail support operations functions to help deliver transformative change within the group.
Prior to McKesson, Ian spent six years at Halfords, leading large retail operations and empowering customer service and property teams. As group retail and property director, Ian was responsible for the profitable operation of 455 stores, managing key teams and leading the development and implementation of the five-year strategic plan.
Chief Operations Officer
Ian Carter
Stewart Smith
General Manager,
Strategic Projects
Ian Carter
Chief Operations Officer
Stewart Smith joined TWG in March 2019 as EGM for strategic projects, where he is responsible for guiding the business in key strategic growth domains and new venture development. He has a wealth of international retail experience, having worked in senior executive positions across multiple disciplines within some of the world’s largest, customer-centric retailers. Most recently, he was a senior consultant at the Egremont Group, where he led a strategic change program for one of America’s largest retail and healthcare businesses. Prior to that, he played a pivotal role in a business turnaround for a leading UK convenience retail and wholesale business, leading to its sale to the Cooperative Group. Stewart spent nine years at Tesco working across multiple business units for the UK and international markets, including creating and running an international business start-up.
General Manager, Strategic Projects
Stewart Smith
Ian Carter joined TWG in 2019. Beginning in the role of executive general manager of operations, Ian was appointed chief store operations officer in 2021. He is responsible for developing and implementing store operation strategies that maximise store sales and deliver exceptional in-store experiences
for customers.
Ian has an extensive background in leading large retail operations and empowering customer service and property teams. He moved to New Zealand in 2019 from the UK, where he held leadership roles with McKesson, Halfords and B&Q. Prior to joining TWG, Ian was based in the UK at McKesson, a large pharmaceutical health care provider, as director of operations. At McKesson, he was responsible for reviewing and redefining the retail support operations functions to help deliver transformative change within the group.
Prior to McKesson, Ian spent six years at Halfords, leading large retail operations and empowering customer service and property teams. As group retail and property director, Ian was responsible for the profitable operation of 455 stores, managing key teams and leading the development and implementation of the five-year strategic plan.
Chief Operations Officer
Ian Carter