Toll Group

Supporting the smooth flow of global drinks logistics.

Vice President Vertical Sales, Liquid - UK

The Worshipful Company of Distillers

Committee Chair, Steward

ewan lacey.com

Working with people and teams to make life and business better.

Some clients also hired me for senior positions.

Clients include:
Goldman Sachs
HSBC Private Bank
Marble Bar
Jascots Wine Merchants
IWSC Group
Hellmann Worldwide Logistics
ProWein
Mirror Group
BBC London
Kavalan
Channel 4
Daily Telegraph
NRS Healthcare
YO!Sushi
Penfold’s
Armand de Brignac
LIDL Foodstores
PWC
Commodity Business Awards
GLG
Jamie Oliver Fabulous Feasts

Commitment 

Many individual founders, business owners and successful executives all the way up to the C-suite.

Founder

Hellmann Worldwide Logistics

As a Global Director – Beverage Logistics, I was responsible for:
Leding teams involved in both origin/destination of trade, while facilitating bilateral transactions and addressing client concerns related to prevailing logistical challenges in market, such as Brexit changes, pricing instability, and space availability; promoting to position of Global Director after providing interim support to business for a period of three years; overseeing strategic planning and managing relationships with key clients, such as Concha y Toro, The Co-Op, The Wine Society, Adnams, and Hallgarten; entrusting with task of driving strategic sales in global beverage logistics sector, while engaging with diverse portfolio of large international customers and renowned brands in the market/fostering collaborative relationships with key stakeholders.
My key highlights in this role include:
• Enhanced skillsets and increased capabilities by restructuring and reorganising of UK beverage team.
• Improved overall responsiveness to client requirements by introducing key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Achieved 20% improvement in productivity by consolidating team under one roof/fostering solid work environment.
• Reduced 30% cost of overhead expenses by merging two separate offices into single environment for UK business.

Global Director - Beverage Logistics

I served as Interim Operations Director – Beverage Logistics and was accountable for:
Providing direct leadership and oversight to beverage logistics teams across multiple countries, including UK, France, Spain, Italy, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Chile, and Argentina; cultivating strong relationships between global offices and clients to assure delivery of exceptional customer experiences.
My key successes during this role were:
• Drove impressive 25% increase in business unit turnover by achieving significant £50m growth from 2017 to 2021.
• Played pivotal role in development and coordination of highly profitable wine and spirit competition logistics business.
• Elevated EBITDA performance of UK business by transforming break-even state to achieving remarkable 17% revenue.
• Streamlined operations by merging two offices into a single location, delivering substantial cost savings of 30% on overhead expenses.
• Ensured continued competitiveness by redesigning product offerings for key routes, such as Italy-UK and Latin America-UK in response to price fluctuations.
• Exceeded £50M sales revenues/turnover by completing profit/loss (P&L) business leadership, assuming responsibility for strategic sales, business development, and day-to-day supervision of ten global offices.
• Realised £220k profit by demonstrating exceptional performance and achieving 25% increase in revenue across global competitions including Decanter, International Wine Challenge, and International Wine/Spirit Competition.

Interim Operations Director - Beverage Logistics

IWSC Group Ltd

I performed as Managing Director, and my responsibilities include:
Managing day-to-day business operations, including coordinating the customer journey, maintaining quality performance, overseeing technical and assessment procedures, and collaborating with diverse team of industry experts; overseeing team of six direct reports and administered total headcount of 22 FTEs.
My signature achievements were the following:
• Achieved a significant revenue increase of 35% from 2013 to 2017.
• Enhanced EBITDA performance from 17% to 27% by demonstrating substantial improvement in financial results.
• Developed and executed business strategies for the group companies by aligning with ambitious growth objectives.

Managing Director

During my tenure as Interim General Manager, I have finalized multiple tasks related to:
Holding full accountability for diverse portfolio of group companies, including International Wine and Spirit Competition; Strategically formulating and implemented business plans for the group companies, while effectively managing high turnover; leading and directing portfolio of over 16 consumer/trade events at prominent venues such as The Oval, The Carlton Club, Truman Brewery, and The Guildhall.
The following were my key contributions:
• Orchestrated end-to-end project lifecycle management and delivery by encompassing project planning, scope definition, budgeting, and risk management.
• Demonstrated comprehensive business leadership by assuming responsibility for all aspects of P&L, driving strategic direction, vision, and continued growth of organisation.
• Ensued exceptional client experiences and provide internal employees with ample opportunities for professional development by fostering engagement throughout organisation.

Interim General Manager

ewanlacey.com

Director, Business Consultant, Ewanlacey.com
Operations Manager, Wine of the Times
General Manager, Café Med, Notting Hill
Operations Manager, YO! Sushi
Property Manager, Lidl Foodstores Gmbh
Steward of The Worshipful Company of Distillers & Chair of Marketing Committee
Part of the ‘Distillers One of One Team, Distillers
Drinks Expert, James Martin Saturday Morning & Channel 4 Television
Drinks Industry Commentator, Channel 5 Sky News
Drinks Writer, Sunday Mirror; Daily Telegraph, Women & Home
Regular Guest & Contributor, BBC Radio

Additional Experience

With 20+ years of experience in the drinks industry I am still excited by chasing inefficiency out and bringing sustainability and good sense in.

Ewan Lacey

NatWest Markets Plc

Loan on loan financing, back leverage, warehouses, securitisations, advisory

Managing Director, Specialty Finance, Commercial Real Estate

NatWest Markets

Senior member of team focussed on Warehouse Financing, Loan on Loan Financing, Structuring, Real Estate Bonds, Distribution & Advisory (including NPL advisory and capital raising for new funds)

Managing Director, CRE Financing & Solutions at NatWest Markets

Member of a new team responsible for building out a distribution platform for RBS originated CRE loans and acting as centre of excellence for all CRE related transaction activity.

Managing Director, Commercial Real Estate Advisory

Royal Bank of Scotland

Senior member of Management Team responsible for delivering successful wind down of Division with  >400 staff across island of Ireland (Republic and Northern Ireland).

Led multi disciplinary teams through the whole transaction life cycle - asset selection, valuation, sales strategy, marketing, execution, completion and migration.  Through 18 separate tranche transactions removed in excess of €15bn of face value loans and €250m MtM positions from balance sheet.

Managing Director, Head of Structured Solutions RCR Ireland

Senior member of team responsible for designing (asset selection and timing of sale) and delivering (through successfully leading transactions) strategic de-leverage solutions for RBS' Non-Core Real Estate team.  This included creating a JV NPL Fund and securitising RBS' vendor finance.

Senior Director, Non-Core Solutions

Led team responsible for structuring all RBS' complex real estate transactions.  Included - JV equity stakes, Propco ownership, multi tranche financing, bridge financing (including to capital markets) and opco / propco financing

Head of Structuring, REF, Global Banking and Markets

Deloitte

Specialised in Real Estate corporation tax.  Advised on sale and leaseback transactions, inbound investment structures, CMBS financing and operating real estate implications in corporate restructures.

Manager

Arthur Andersen

1997 - 2000
Advised a broad range of clients in Scotland
2000 - 2002
Focussed on real estate clients in London Office

Senior Banker with wide ranging experience of real estate transactions throughout the credit cycle.

Deep knowledge gained across origination & structuring of new CRE lending (both direct and indirect); designing and delivering complex de-leverage plans (most notably through disposals of real estate assets including hotels and pubs (>£1bn) and NPL loan sales (>£15bn)); creation & securitisation of UK NPL fund; primary and secondary performing loan distribution; advisory (including NPL sales and CRE business spin offs); bonds and re-structuring.
 
Combination of commercial acumen together with a wide range of technical skills including negotiation / influencing, structuring, accountancy, tax and law. 

Proven track record of delivering successful complex banking transactions while leading both small and large multi-disciplinary teams across multiple locations. 

Core focus in UK and Irish real estate markets with transactions executed in most Western and Southern European jurisdictions.

taplio

The Battle

Ewan Lacey

Alistair Aitken

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