Our CEO Gavin says that the only constant is change, and that’s certainly true here at Purple. We don’t just deal with change as it happens; we seek it out. Change is part of the journey. It shapes us and the direction we take to reach our vision – Intelligent Spaces.
Just one of the changes we’ve made in the business recently is the appointment of two new faces in our Board of Directors. Tim Mason and Bob Willett will now join investors Sir Terry Leahy and Rory Codd on the board, along with Executive Directors – Gavin Wheeldon, Pete Lee, John Oliver and Eric Law.
Introducing Tim Mason
Tim Mason was the Chairman of Bonmarche until May 2015. He has over 30 years experience in retail with Tesco, spending 17 years as a Board Director and, since 2010, as their Deputy CEO and Chief Marketing Officer. Tim has also served on the boards of Tesco.com, Tesco Personal Finance and Tesco Mobile. Along with fellow Purple investor and board member Sir Terry Leahy, Tim was instrumental in the launch of Tesco Clubcard and Tesco.com.
Tim is the President and CEO of Fresh & Easy Neighbourhood Market, Chairman and CEO of Soft Brew Licensing Ltd and an advisor to The Foundation, TCC and Yext. As if that wasn’t enough, he is a director and advisor to several other businesses including Eagle Eye Solutions and Digital Natives Content. All we can say is that Tim is an expert at time management too. We’d love to know your secret. A clone, or time travel perhaps?
About Bob Willett
Bob Willett has been involved with Purple as an investor since January 2015, when we secured our first round of funding. We couldn’t wish for a more experienced retail professional to join our Board of Directors.
Here’s how Forbes Magazine described Bob’s achievements: “Bob Willett is an example of an executive who started on the shop floor. He began at Marks & Spencer in his native United Kingdom in 1968 and would leave that company a decade later as a store executive. Before taking on the role of CEO at BestBuy International, he had been the CEO of one company, head of Merchandise Operations for another, and then global managing partner of the Retail Practice and a member of the executive committee at Accenture. He advised many of the best retail operations around the world about matters of strategy.”
Bob is also Chairman of Anatwine Ltd., NED of Mobile World PLC Vietnam, Trustee of The National Museum of Computing Bletchley and Advisor to the Sabanci Group in Turkey.