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

Roebuck Estates

Event Coordinator

Agile Media Ltd

Running events that are connected with industry magazines, Drinks Retailing and Harpers.
Using twenty five years of industry experience to deliver superior events including:-

Sommelier Wine Awards
Specialist Importer Trade Tastings (SITT)
Drinks Retailing Awards
Harpers Top 25 Sommeliers
Harpers Top 50 Independent Retailers
International Cider Challenge

Events Manager 

Maureen Burgess School of Reflexology

Student

IWSC - Club Oenologique

Having spent twenty years with the IWSC I can help with any questions and queries you have with regards to entering or working with the IWSC.  
With particular emphasis on running events, operations and sponsorship, Scotch Whisky and English wine please don't hesitate to drop me a line if there is anything you need to know.

Wine & Spirit Ambassador

Head of Tastings & Events

-Part of award-winning operational team for the IWSC. (Best Operations Team at The Conference Awards 2014)
-Organising tastings for the IWSC, making sure relevant wines and spirits are presented in logical groupings.
- Managing the organisation and running of the service team, including planning rotas, booking time off and logistical supply needed for tasting.
-Working with the operations team to deliver the tastings and results accurately and efficiently.
-Assisting in organising the Awards & Presentation Banquet and other events.
- Helped set up and run The Beer Awards in 2016.  This required creating a tasting system; organising a judging team and briefing the serving staff for a new competition.
-Managed the tasting team for What Food, What Wine.
-Part of team for HKIWSC assisting with running of competition for 2014 - 2016
-Part of team organising the operational requirements for the Award Winning IWSC Awards Banquet at the Guildhall, City of London each year. (Best Awards Event 2015, The Conference Awards and Awards Event of the Year, Connect Awards 2015)

Senior Tasting Manager UK

Club Oenologique

Head of Tastings & Events 

Vinopolis

Was part of the team during the original startup of Vinopolis, promoted to one of the Assistant Managers of the Tasting Team before joining the sponsorship team.

Sponsorship Assistant

Oddbins

Assistant Manager

With over twenty-five years running B2B events for the drinks industry, I am highly qualified to deliver tastings, awards ceremonies, juding experiences and other events.

Bringing a particular understanding of the logistical and operational needs required to set up and succesfully run superior tastings and judgings I have the experience and knowledge to lead a team in both setting up and reviving drinks industry judging.

With excellent communication skills, experience of managing and working with teams and projects I will deliver a fantstic event from start to finish.

Wine and spirits knowledge is backed up with WSET qualifications up to Level 4 (Wine) and Level 2 (Spirits), as well as WSET Educator status, allowing me to be fully involved with the operations of running any wine or spirits based events.

taplio

The Battle

Ewan Lacey

Pip Mortimer

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