16 minute read
Reflecting on the past four
Industry marks the retirement of JTI sales director Derek Mooney
J T I s a l e s d i r e c t o r D e r e k M o o n e y h a s l i t e r a l l y g r o w n u p w o r k i n g i n a n d f o r I r e l a n d ’ s t o b a c c o i n d u s t r y . A t t h e t e n d e r a g e o f 1 7 , h e j o i n e d G a l l a h e r , b u t n o t b e f o r e t h e f r e s h - f a c e d M o o n e y w a s a s k e d t o p r o d u c e h i s p a s s p o r t t o p r o v e h e w a s o l d e n o u g h t o s t a r t w o r k . A l w a y s a s h r e w d n e g o t i a t o r , h e w a s a l s o a f r i e n d o f t h e t r a d e a n d g a v e u n s t i n t i n g l y o f h i s t i m e , v a s t e x p e r i e n c e a n d r e s o u r c e s .
Derek Mooney
N o w , o n t h e c u s p o f h i s r e t i r e m e n t , S h e l f L i f e a s k e d s o m e o f t h e c o u n t r y ’ s l e a d i n g r e t a i l e r s a n d w h o l e s a l e r s t o p a y t r i b u t e t o D e r e k M o o n e y ’ s m a s s i v e c o n t r i b u t i o n t o t h e t r a d e
Looking back over four decades…
Derek Mooney reflects on a career spanning 42 years and all the fantastic people he has met along the way
My career began back in June 1979 when I joined Gallaher as a customer services agent, before moving onto roles including key account manager, trading director and finally sales director in the years that followed. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to meet so many great colleagues, customers and friends, working for a great company with excellent people and learning a huge amount from others. The JTI acquisition of Gallaher in 2007 was a major milestone in my career, helping me progress to sales director level and giving me the opportunity to develop young talent, many of whom subsequently moved to other JTI markets to broaden their knowledge and experience. I have enjoyed every minute of the journey.
What has driven me through my career? A passion for success, leading the way forward through our people and brands, developing strong trade relationships, and ensuring JTI has a strong reputation for fairness and honesty among our business partners. We live up to our values in JTI and I’m proud to say that we refuse to compromise on trust, integrity or reputation. I have negotiated with our key trading partners for over 25 years and although we may have had differences of opinion at times during negotiations, you have always shown me the utmost respect.
Looking back over four decades within Gallaher/JTI, I can truly say JTI is a ‘Great Place to Work’. Training and development of employees is second to none, and this investment in people has been fundamental to the success I’ve experienced in my own career. I have also had exceptional general manager mentors over the years, each with their own style of leadership. I learnt a huge amount working with them and I’ve tried in turn to lead by example and impart these skills to colleagues in the earlier stages of their careers to help them reach their full potential.
To my colleagues and friends in JTI, thank you so much for all your help and support over the years. I leave behind a great management team that has made my life so much easier. My sales management team, business advisers and telesales team are the best in the business and I wish you well in your future careers within JTI. Thank you for always delivering on our goals and objectives.
To my colleagues and friends within the trade, thank you for all the support you have given to me and JTI. You have played a major role in making JTI the number one tobacco company in Ireland. I will truly miss the banter with you all and the social occasions when we shared a beer or two. I wish you the very best in driving your businesses to the next level.
If you are ever in The Algarve, give me a shout!
Go raibh maith agat, go dti go mbuailfimid le cheile aris.
Andrew Shannon, JTI
Ireland general manager
Andrew Shannon, JTI Ireland general manager, discusses the legacy Derek leaves behind as he embarks on a very well-deserved retirement
Since taking over as JTI Ireland general manager at the beginning of 2021, I have worked with Derek on a daily basis. During this time, I have seen the huge respect he has built up over his 42 years with Gallaher/JTI, both among colleagues and customers. This respect goes both ways – he has established incredibly strong, long-standing relationships with our customers based on mutual respect and an understanding of the importance in business of getting to a win-win solution. As I’ve visited stores with Derek and met with customers throughout the country, I’ve seen a genuine warmth and friendliness that goes beyond the business relationship.
Over the course of my 20-year career with JTI, I’ve had the privilege to work alongside some incredible professionals. True leaders who have worked tirelessly to build the business, develop their teams and support their customers. Derek is without doubt up there with the very best. We have worked closely together over the last year within the Irish management team, and in various capacities since JTI’s acquisition of Gallaher in 2007. Right from the outset it was obvious that his knowledge of the tobacco business in Ireland was unparalleled, as was his understanding of the FMCG category and the challenges facing both manufacturers and retailers.
He has successfully navigated JTI through significant changes to the category: the retail display ban, standardised packaging, EU TPD2 and track and trace to name just a few. As someone who takes his leadership responsibilities extremely seriously, he always went the extra mile in supporting and guiding customers during periods of change such as these, keenly aware of potential disruption in stores.
As he embarks on his retirement, Derek leaves a phenomenal legacy: clear market leadership across cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco, spearheaded by iconic brands Benson & Hedges, Silk Cut, Mayfair and Amber Leaf; Logic Compact leads the e-vapour pods segment; and our Nordic Spirit nicotine pouches continue to grow. Beyond the strictly commercial success, however, he has also built an exceptional team of people across JTI’s sales organisation – ranging from our telesales operators, to key accounts, business advisors and Logic specialists – and has been a mentor and friend to countless others throughout his career. He has been a strong leader in coaching, mentoring and developing his people to prepare them for bigger roles in Ireland as well as across our international business in our Swiss headquarters and markets.
So, on behalf of everyone in JTI Ireland and across the company globally, I’d like to express my sincere thanks to Derek for his incredible dedication, commitment and total professionalism over the years, as well as his friendship, team spirit, camaraderie and sense of humour, and wish him only the best on a very well-deserved retirement. After over four decades of service, JTI will be a different place without him, but he can be extremely proud of the legacy he leaves.
Gary Desmond, CEO of
Gala Retail
By Gary Desmond, CEO of Gala Retail
Derek has played such a central role in the FMCG sector for many, many years and is one of the most highly regarded sales professionals in the business. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Derek for over 20 years, and one thing that has always remained constant is Derek’s support for our industry.
As Derek progressed through the ranks, he’s always been available for open and frank discussions. His reputation as a shrewd negotiator precedes him, and I can verify that it’s well warranted, but Derek has always remained fair.
Gala Retail has enjoyed a close working relationship with JTI and Derek since the group was founded. Indeed, many of our wholesalers and retailers know Derek well, and he’s been a familiar face at our annual Gala conference over the years.
This positive working relationship has been productive in working together to overcome the many changes and major challenges of the past couple of decades including the smoking ban, tobacco packaging and advertising in-store etc.
The JTI team, under Derek’s leadership, have supported both the team at Gala Retail and our retailers with advice on the swift implementation of the many changes. We’re also grateful to Derek and JTI for their support of the wider Gala Group, especially when Gala marked the group’s 10th and 20th anniversaries, with JTI named as a key supporter of both events.
The support and partnership approach of Derek and his team has led to JTI being awarded Gala Supplier of the Year at our annual conference.
And all of my dealings with Derek haven’t just been in the boardroom. We’ve had the pleasure of enjoying many rounds in some fine golf courses. Another remarkable characteristic of Derek’s is how his handicap increases every single year, yet his game of golf seems only to get better!
Derek and his wife Barbara are popular people in the industry, and I wish them many years of happiness. Derek will be hard to replace but JTI has a solid management and team structure in place, so we look forward to building relationships with Derek’s successor.
We wish Derek a happy and healthy retirement.
Jim Walsh, Tobaccoland
director
Derek Mooney: The King of Rock & Roll Your Own (Amber Leaf)
By Jim Walsh, Tobaccoland director
Derek always shared Tobaccoland’s vision for the business. We wanted to be the biggest and Derek wanted Gallaher/JTI to be by our side, supporting us in every way possible to achieve this.
Derek always had a way of negotiating a deal that benefited both parties involved while having JTI’s best interests at the forefront.
We never heard the word no from Derek. Everything was possible and could be achieved by working together as partners. Very few people have this skill and it shone like the sun with Derek. Derek was never unavailable to take our call. No matter what part of the world he was in, once the conversation benefited the business, Derek was always keen to listen.
I personally never took part in Derek’s famous trips, but it was Leslie and Declan who loved the time spent with Derek and Babs and the JTI team. I especially remember one trip when a few days away turned into weeks thanks to the volcano ash cloud.
Derek’s presentations were always full of useful information for your business. Such was his commitment to his job after falling backwards into the pool on one of the famous trips. All Derek wanted was to save his laptop and phone for the presentation the next day.
Derek was the perfect host, professional in every way. As well as feeling you were best friends after these trips, there was nothing Derek could not ask for and the answer would always be yes. Not because he wined and dined you for a few days but because Derek had given your business the opportunity to meet others and to discuss changing trends in the tobacco business. If you were lucky like us, you always came away with a whole new set of friends, from all areas of the business.
Such are his strengths, there was nothing that could not be discussed, and we never left a meeting with Derek without feeling and knowing we had benefited in some way. It was always constructive. It is seldom that you meet someone in business that when they decide to retire, you would like to retire too. We know that with the team Derek has built within JTI, we can look forward to our continued partnership with JTI.
Derek embraced every change in the tobacco industry and saw it as a challenge, rather than a problem. No bad habits have set in with Derek. He is always looking at JTI’s best interests, whether it was day one of the job or his last day at work. 100% is and has always been given to us at Tobaccoland.
Tobaccoland would not be the business we are today had we not met Derek Mooney. So, as chapter one in your life comes to an end, we hope that chapter two will be full of great things for both you and Babs. Long warm sunny days playing golf and relaxing by the pool with your one-of-a-kind wife and best friend Babs.
We hope we can keep in touch. Our door will always be open for you here at Tobaccoland if you find yourself in Limerick sometime in the future. Enjoy and thank you for everything.
Jim and everyone at Tobaccoland
Tom Shipsey, CEO,
Stonehouse
By Tom Shipsey, CEO, Stonehouse
It is hard to believe Derek is retiring, he has been around forever. I have traded blows, glasses of wine and hours of negotiation and fun with Derek over the last 30 years or so. In all that time there was one common theme; his respect, calm manner, professionalism, and the word no! In the words of Billy Joel, Derek “never gives out but he never gives in”. Although he rarely gave you what you wanted, you could never fault him for that as he had such a nice way of saying no.
Derek was the ultimate “Company Man”. Without any disrespect to his many bosses that he introduced me to over the years, Derek was always, in the eyes of Stonehouse, the main man and his regard for and support of me and Stonehouse was exemplary. As he progressed within Gallaher and JTI, he never lost his connection with Stonehouse and went out of his way to personally attend and support all our events and occasions.
Outside of the negotiating room, I have had some of my most memorable experiences in this trade, in the company of Derek. It didn’t matter whether he or I was the host of such occasions, it was always fun to be in his company and we stayed up far too late.
The only time I managed to get the better of Derek was on the golf course. Stonehouse runs a bi-annual Ryder Cup type competition against our suppliers. I think my record against Derek is two wins, one draw and no losses. I am sure as he moves to Portugal his golf game can only improve.
I feel sad to say goodbye to him, and feel even more sorry for his wife Babs, who will have to put up with seeing him more often! On behalf of everyone in Stonehouse may I say thank you Derek for your friendship and wish you and Babs many happy years of retirement ahead.
Muitas felicidades, minha amiga.
Vincent Jennings, CEO,
CSNA
By Vincent Jennings, CEO, Convenience Stores & Newsagents Association (CSNA)
The departure of Derek Mooney from JTI marks the end of a very long relationship between him and the retail sector.
For many years our association relied upon the geniality, professionalism and empathy that Derek possessed to ensure that retailers’ needs and concerns were listened to by those slightly further up the chain of command.
There is little doubt that many of the changes and improvements that were made by Gallaher and JTI in terms of positive outcomes are as a result of the recommendations from Derek, having taken heed of CSNA-suggested ideas.
The president and National Executive, as well as our members wish Derek a long and enjoyable retirement.
Leo Crawford, group chief
executive, BWG Group
By Leo Crawford, group chief executive, BWG Group
I have had the pleasure of interacting with Derek for over 25 years and I can safely say he is one of the most popular individuals in the grocery trade.
We have enjoyed many jousts in the board room and on the golf course where Derek has always displayed his admirable qualities of passion and conviction in both locations!
I wish Derek and Barbara every happiness in the future.
Joe Barrett, chief
operating officer,
Applegreen
By Joe Barrett, chief operating officer, Applegreen
Derek, a really big thank you for all the support you have given Applegreen, through our almost 30 years in business. We have greatly appreciated your admirable work ethic, deep industry knowledge, and your innate skills at bringing people together.
The success of JTI in Ireland, has no doubt been thanks to your strong connections in the industry and we know you will be greatly missed across the board!
We at Applegreen wish both Derek and Barbara every health and happiness in this next chapter of their lives.
Thanks again and wishing you all the best,
Joe Barrett
Jim Barry, managing
director, Barry Group
By Jim Barry, managing director, Barry Group
It has been my pleasure to have developed a strong relationship with Derek Mooney.
We go back quite a few years and I can safely say during our business relationship, Derek has never acted any other way than totally professional at all times. If ever we were faced with a challenge, we always found a solution for it together.
I would rate Derek as one of the trade’s greatest leaders over the years which is clear to anybody who talks to one of his colleagues at JTI or members of the trade who have experience of working with him. JTI’s success in the Great Place to Work Awards is a testament to Derek’s leadership skills.
On a personal level, Derek is one of the most genuine people I know, and I can safely say that you always feel better after speaking or engaging with Derek. I want to wish both Derek and Babs every success in the future and I do look forward to a catch up with them both in the near future. ■
