News

Gem makes investments in people (28/9/2007)

As part of the ongoing growth of Gem, the company has made significant people investments with new appointments across the business.

Following a recent unveiling of a new identity signifying its evolving role in distribution, Gem has recently made significant investments in key areas of the business, recruiting key staff in the Sales and Commercial departments, in addition to investing in a new department to represent its connected home strategy.

In the sales division, Layne Burton joins the company as training manager, who will oversee ongoing training and development of GemÕs sales force. The National Accounts department has been enhanced through three new appointments. Steven Small joins the team from Microsoft as Nationals Accounts Manager looking after key retail partner relationships, with Alan Ritchie joining as Business Development Manager. Wendy Poole completes the trio of new joiners as National Account Coordinator.

Following GemÕs recent focus in the connected home/Audio Visual sector, two new specialists have been recruited to bolster the team. Ross Haywood has had a long career in consumer electronics, with experience from Hughes electrical and Philips. Ross will be providing valuable support to the Audio Visual channel on the road. Courtney George also joins the department as Focus AV Specialist. Courtney is responsible for the day to day account management of our AV customers and is an important link to our team on the road.

Darren Houghton, GemÕs Sales Director, commented, ÒWith new and exciting plans in place for GemÕs future, we needed to invest in experienced and specialised employees for the new areas of business to absorb the increasing needs of our customers. In addition to the above we have also recruited a number of new sales employees for the Leisure and Focus teams. The recruitment drive is a sign of our ongoing commitment to our customers.Ó

Elsewhere in the business, GemÕs Commercial team has benefited from recruiting Angela Fleming, who brings experience from working at Tesco and offers a wealth of knowledge in the purchasing sector. AngelaÕs appointment as Leisure Buyer will see her looking after a number of Leisure accounts including Empire, Capcom and Madcatz.

In an internal move, former Marketing Director, Dean Van Velsen, is now up and running as in the new role of Technology & Product Development Director. This new position has been created to develop new products for own brand and opportunities for Gem to bring new vendor products to market.

www.gem.co.uk