The newly rebranded cruise and retail specialist Harding+ has hired Paul Cunningham from the Morrisons owned McColl’s chain as its new Global Director of Buying.

Cunningham brings a wealth of experience to the role.

He served as Retail Group Commercial Director at McColl’s and, before that, was Co-op’s Director of Buying for Fresh and Chilled Foods, where he was also responsible for the range planning, agriculture and technical teams.

He will lead Harding+’s team of category buyers in both the UK and Miami, bringing experience of managing large and remote teams, growing and strengthening supplier relationships, and leading projects focused on innovation, merchandising and people development.

“Paul’s track record of success, of broad and forward thinking remits and large scale budget responsibilities means he is a great hire to match our ambitions that are only heightened as we move into the Harding+ phase,” said Harding+ CEO James Prescott.

“He fits with our two pronged people strategy that champions internal promotions alongside a mission to hire fresh thinkers from outside the industry to help expand all of our best practice thinking.

“We will all win at Harding+ with his depth of retail understanding on board.”

 

 

 

 

Cunningham will be based at Harding+’s Bristol HQ and will report directly into CCO Matthew Hodges.

“Everyone likes to be challenged in their career and I’m looking forward now to matching years of high street retail expertise and customer understanding with the ever growing Cruise world of specialist thinking,” said Cunningham.

“My mission is to help Harding+ continue to innovate and deepen both partner satisfaction and opportunities for team growth.”

“I like the clarity of the Harding+ strategy and the positive mentality it embodies, admire the quaternity approach of listening to all parties at the core, and of course as a Director of Buying I am looking forward to diving into the customer insight data that business has heavily invested in.”

You can read more about the company rebrand in our previous report.