"Working at Cadbury provides unique opportunities to develop professionally and personally, by exposing people to exciting challenges and providing the support to grow and be the best you can be."
Location:
Melbourne, Victoria
Current role:
General Manager - Supply Planning, Development and Customer Operations
“I started in 1991 within the New Zealand Business Dunedin Manufacturing Operation as a management trainee, since then I have continued on an exciting and varied journey working across functions, business units, and countries, in local, Regional and Global roles.
Through the management trainee program I worked across raw material supply, production planning and manufacturing. I made my first international move in 1994 to work as Supply Chain Development Manager for our Trebor Bassett business based in London, responsible for leading front end development and customer service improvement projects with our major customers.
In 1996 I took up the challenge of leading a large team as Production Area Manager for Chocolate Making and Dairy Operations in New Zealand. Leading a total team of 60 was a fantastic opportunity to explore and develop my capability as a people manager, while further broadening my understanding of the supply chain.
Cadbury is great at giving people the opportunity to learn across the business. Seeking another challenge, in 1997 I gained experience in business change, process improvement and information technology through various roles within Trebor Basset and the EMEA Regional Information Centre based in Bourneville UK.
In 2000 I had a very unique opportunity to take up a secondment to Chicago and join executives on loan from 49 of the worlds leading CPG companies to develop a global electronic market place for the industry, with the vision of streamlining transactions with suppliers, retailers and distributors via the internet. After my 5 month secondment I returned to London to take up a Global eBusiness role with the core focus of understanding the value potential of different aspects of business-to-business e-Commerce for Cadbury Schweppes.
In 2002 I moved to Melbourne, Australia to lead the implementation of a customer to cash project for our Schweppes business and moved on to lead the Customer Operations function across our Australia and New Zealand Beverage and Confectionery business in 2003.
My role now is General Manager of Logistics and Customer Operations across Australia and New Zealand, this is an incredibly broad and challenging role working across the business to ensure we have our great products in the right place at the right time, efficiently and safely to meet our customers and consumers needs, it’s a tough balancing act, but one that is very rewarding.
The opportunity to experience different businesses, countries and functions has certainly added to my broad understanding of our business issues and opportunities. Along the way I have had amazing support from some incredibly talented managers and mentors, the opportunity to work alongside and learn from very talented people as well as formal skills and leadership training.
Working at Cadbury provides unique opportunities to develop professionally and personally, by exposing people to exciting challenges and providing the support to grow and be the best you can be.”