About Richard
English
Native or bilingual
Experience
- ReBar ConsultingFounder, DirectorJanuary 2019 - January 2024 (5 years)
- Flexible Engagement Model: Operating across short-term advisory roles and longer-term leadership appointments, delivering high-impact transformational change
- Strategic Retail & CPG Partnerships: Partnered with global retailers, brands and CPG firms to optimise costs, improve governance, and implement AI-powered decision-making frameworks.
- Business Model & Operating Transformation: Delivered £250m+ in efficiency savings through business model restructuring, AI-powered analytics, and strategic operating model shifts.
- Retail & Digital Innovation: Supported businesses in developing future-state retail formats, embedding AI into space, range, and commercial strategies, and driving customer engagement.
- Marks & Spencer (M&S)Director, Space / Store TransformationJanuary 2020 - January 2024 (4 years)
- Estate & Space Transformation: Led transformation across 350 stores (£5bn sales, Clothing, Home, Beauty), identifying £1bn+ revenue opportunity through range optimisation, store format redesigns, and omnichannel alignment. Introduced brands across the estate and brand new categories.
- AI & Data-Led Strategy: Introduced AI-powered insights, embedding predictive analytics, digital and systems transformation into commercial and store planning, step-changing P&L performance
- Customer & Commercial Growth: Built a ‘customer, catchment, competitor and contribution’ strategy, contributing to 100s millions in revenue uplift and protecting Online.
- Space & Range Optimisation: rebuilt the Space Strategy and defined a brand-new operating model. Drove store performance by redefining category allocations, store blueprints and optimising the end-to-end range and assortment planning with brand new capabilities and insights.
- Cross-Functional Leadership: Redefined the end-to-end store development process, incl governance and decision making. Built a brand-new ‘Customer’ Op Model to embed omni-channel. Redefined cross-business metrics to harmonise teams through a ‘When is Good, Good’ programme of change.
- English HeritageRetail & Development DirectorJanuary 2012 - January 2015 (3 years)
- Strategic & Commercial Leadership: Managed a £50m revenue business, leading 5,000+ employees and volunteers, across 412 sites.
- Retail & Hospitality Transformation: Overhauled retail, online, product, hospitality, and film operations, reducing working capital by 20%, aligning teams on profitability & customer experience.
- Membership & Engagement Growth: Increased membership by 180k through strategic estate master-planning, customer engagement initiatives and unlocking brand potential.
- Cultural Change & Leadership: Cultivated a culture of democratic engagement, improving team satisfaction by 35%, through furloughs and periods of operational transition.
Recommendations
Be the first to recommend Richard
Help this freelancer shine by sharing your experience working together.
These freelancer profiles also match your criteria
Agatha Frydrych
Backend Java Software Engineer
4.7
(3)
2
Baptiste Duhen
Fullstack developer
4.6
(4)
5
Amed Hamou
Senior Lead Developer
4
(2)
7
Audrey Champion
Web developer
4.3
(3)
4
Education
- DegreeStaffordshire University1998Psychology