Darren A Smith

Darren began working at Sainsbury’s at the tender age of 19 as an administrative clerk for the Cheese Buying department. Back then the offices at Stamford House were like a rabbit warren, yet the people friendly and the environment of amazing growth.

Progressing through the ranks from administration to and up through Buying he was lucky enough to work in many industries with many characters. From the wise old cheese makers, to the brand dominated frozen cabinets, to the wonders of the fish world, to Friday treats, like ready meals and pizzas.

Over 12 years at Sainsbury’s Darren was a lead figure in the ECR team, led numerous category plans and has a track record for delivering consumer focused strategies and excellent financial results.

Richard Booth

In 2003 he co-founded Making Business Matter. To date, clients have included Sainsbury’s, Cranswick Convenience Foods, Geest, Greencore and Asda in a variety of business planning projects. Through the project with Cranswick a second business evolved, called Making Counters Matter, that has supported Sainsbury’s Deli Counters and Salad Bars with outstanding results to date.

In 2001, Richard set up as an independent facilitator and business planner. During that time, his clients have included Argos, Comet, Sainsbury’s and The Arts Council.

Richard has over 16 years experience working in a wide variety of areas and roles for Sainsbury’s.His last position in the company, before moving on to set up his own businesses, was as Non Foods Strategy Manager where he helped to shape and set the direction of this key area of the business.

Richard was also a Business Planning Facilitator in Trading, delivering category plans for a Perishable, Ambient and Non Foods including, Beer & Cider, Lamb & Pork and Health & Beauty.

He has also experienced life in Operational and Strategic areas of the Supply Chain, Retail Systems and was a Department Manager in a number of Stores.

Andy Palmer

Andy’s career started at the retail coalface with eight years at Safeway food stores. He spent many years in management understanding the key points of grocery retailing, and the operational challenges faced within various departments across a store.

Prior to joining Darren and Richard he spent five years at a fresh produce supplier in positions of category analysis, marketing and account management. He now enjoys the challenges of facilitation, business planning and gathering great minds in a room to agree the future.

Jon King

After 23 years at Sainsbury’s (including 2 years as a student!), John’s experience is extensive.

His career at Head Office started in Marketing and progressed to Trading where he was a Buyer in Fresh Produce and Cheese. Realising his talents lay in working with people, John moved to HR where he developed his expertise in Training and Management Development, Business Planning and Change Management.

Working as an internal consultant, he worked with every area of the business, from Checkout staff to Board Directors. In his last 12 months at Sainsbury’s, he worked alongside Richard in Category Management.

For the last 3 years John has run his own successful businesses independently, with Richard and more recently with Darren.

Sally Booth

Sally’s experience in, and passion for, learning and development has spanned a number of years and professional roles: as a teaching assistant in France, leading to fluency in the language today; as manager of a number of large teams within food retail, and, since 1989, as a consultant providing support to a variety of leading organisations within both the public and private sector.

Recent clients have been from food manufacturing, publishing, retail, the pharmaceutical sector, the arts, local government, education, the motor industry and the legal profession.

Sally works successfully with all levels of staff and management, combining energy and sensitivity in all that she does. Her personal satisfaction comes from enabling clients at all levels within an organisation to increase their personal impact and to encourage influential team and individual communication. Current live projects include:

Team Development

• Facilitation of a number of meetings with a newly created team of managers and staff who need to clarify their vision and values.
• Using psychometrics with the Board members of a rapidly expanding organisation to help them understand their individual work styles.
• Designing and delivering team training sessions to develop peer coaching skills across a department of specialists.

Coaching

Working 1:1 with a number of managers and specialists to enable them to realise their work – and life – goals.

Management Skills - programme design and delivery around:

• Impact and Influence for Senior managers
• Personal Confidence and Mentoring for Specialists
• Customer Care across three Councils
• Leadership and Coaching for lawyers