2014 | Top 100
Roland Smith CEO | Office Depot The biggest story in the OP wor ld over the past year has been the merger of Office Depot and OfficeMax. For the 2014 Top 100 we say goodbye to Neil Austrian and Ravi Saligram and welcome the new man in charge, Roland Smith. Smith took over at Office Dep ot in mid-November, a week afte r the merger with ‘Max officially closed, joining the global rese ller from supermarket group Delh aize America. He came with somethi ng of a reputation as a turnaround and integration expert from his time at Delhaize, the Wendy’s restaura nt group, American Golf Corporat ion and bowling centre operator AMF, and has not been slow in mak ing his mark at Depot. The senior management stru cture and headquarters location (Boc a
Raton, Florida) were quickly decided upon and organisation al restructuring was finalised at the end of February, ahead of man y observers’ expectations. Vendor meetings took place as Depot looked for purchasing synergie s and a common merchandise assortment, and Bain Consult ing was drafted in to work with Dep ot on its retail strategy. And there was good reason for this need for speed as the combined company reported disappointing quarterly resu lts at the end of 2013 against a back drop of uncertainty over the integrat ion of the two resellers. “It’s very difficult to focus on the business when your personal future is uncertain,” said Smith, “and this was a major consideration for why we moved so quickly to restruct ure.” Now Smith, who has reached the summit of Mount Everest and scaled several other of the world’s high est
peaks, has another mountain to climb by getting Office Depot back onto a growth traje ctory. He is promising a “unique selli ng proposition” for later this year and that is something the whole indu stry is keenly awaiting.
Europe Robert Baldrey ceo | Vasanta
The momentum with Vasanta’s top line seen in 2012 continued into 2013 as the group’s full-year sales increased 7% to about £415 million ($694 millio n). Some of that growth was due to 12 months of sales from the OfficeTeam account won in November 2012 and from other business picked up from rival wholesaler Spicers, but 2013 was not all about VOW for Vasanta. Group CEO Robert Baldrey points to “pretty good growth” in public health and large corporate accou nts at the Supplies Team division, group-wide growth of 19% in facilities supplies, increased sales to IT reselle rs and a stabilisation at independent dealer Yes2 acquir ed last year. Product expansion at the UK’s Post Office – where VOW Retail holds the stationery supply account – will no doubt have also helped. The bokz reseller programme – the creation of a Vasanta-owned national brand for smaller dealer s – was announced earlier this year and its management team is now in place. Developing this will be a key area of focus for the rest of 2014, as will be a concerted effort to achieve more sales in the south-east of Englan d.
Baldrey admits that Vasanta has traditionally been viewed as largely a northern firm, but with the recent opening of an office in London – where the southeast VOW sales team and the new group marketing and business services unit will be based – and the CEO’s own imminent move to the south-east, he is hoping that this view will change.
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