Strategic Expert Joins Farmlands

Rural retailer Farmlands has experienced strong growth in recent years and its latest appointment signals strategic growth will continue well into the future.

Hawke’s Bay man Geoff Taylor is Farmlands new General Manager Operations.

With more than 25 years’ experience in retail and farming in his blood, Mr Taylor has worked with some of the country leading retailers including Countdown/Foodtown, The Warehouse Group and Goldpine Industries. His roles have been at a regional or national level where he built high performing teams that deliver operational excellence.

As General Manager Operations of The Warehouse, Mr Taylor led a team that managed over 75 largeformat, high turnover retail stores across New Zealand.

“We had over 5,000 team members and were achieving $1.3 billion retail sales.

I successfully implemented a number of significant changes within Operations. These changes improved the offer to the customer in both service and presentation during my time there as well as delivering improved sales while building a highly engaged operations team.”

Mr Taylor is excited about working in an organsiation that has already experienced strong growth and says he is keen to share his passion, knowledge and experience in retailing with a market leader like Farmlands.

As General Manager Operations, Mr Taylor’s focus will be on using the collective Farmlands industry knowledge to build strong relationships while delivering great value on quality products and services.

Mr Taylor was born and bred in Hawke’s Bay, and he and his wife own a farm in the Tukituki Valley next door to his parent’s farm. They recently expanded the farm to include a vineyard, growing Pinot Noir, which has given insight into the slowly improving grape sector.

“My wife and father manage both farms, with my support during weekends and holidays. This works well for all of us as my wife loves farming and my father loves the support she brings, and it allows me to do what I do best which is strategic leadership and retail management.”

“Our mixed farming model has provided me with a great cross section of knowledge in the rural sector and now I’m looking forward to putting that knowledge to good use in my role as General Manager
Operations.”

CEO Peter Ellis says Geoff Taylor’s combined talents, skills and life experience will bring real value to Farmlands Shareholders nationwide.

“Geoff is a man with a proven track record of strategic leadership and delivering operational excellence and we’re all looking forward to working with him.”

Mr Taylor commences his role on 4 July 2011.