A board level business leader, with diverse experience gained both client & agency side, across multiple geographies & industries, including Broadcast Entertainment, Management Consultancy, and Fast Moving Consumer Goods. Simon has over 18 years of experience leading the Commercial & Marketing agendas for major household brands, with particular expertise in Commercial Strategy, Business Innovation, Long Range Planning, Org’ Design & Capability, Marketing, Innovation and Brand Development.
Simon is currently Chief Commercial Officer at UKTV, the UK’s 3rd largest commercial television broadcaster.
Simon joined UKTV in Jan 2012 from Kantar Retail, the consultancy arm of WPP, having worked internationally with blue-chip organisations such as Coke, Kraft, Starbucks, and Bacardi-Martini. Simon spent his first 4 years on the Executive Board of UKTV as Marketing Director, as part of the leadership team responsible for establishing UKTV as a Times Top 100 Company to work for, and for delivering 4 years of record share growth, overtaking the Sky and Five channel portfolios, to establish UKTV as the UK’s 3rd commercial broadcaster.
Simon was appointed as Executive Commercial Director in Jan 2016 and promoted to Chief Commercial Officer in May, tasked with accelerating UKTV’s commercial impact and setting the business up for it’s next phase of growth. Sitting on the Executive Board and reporting to the Chief Executive, Simon is responsible for the development & implementation of UKTV’s commercial strategy, with specific accountability for all pay TV platforms, UKTV’s Video on Demand (VoD) business, international programme sales, new business development and all external commercial relationships.
Simon’s other experience prior to joining UKTV, includes 13 years at Procter & Gamble and PepsiCo, managing leading brands such as Walkers Crisps, Tropicana, Flash and Fairy Liquid, as well as entrepreneurial ventures such as Naked smoothies.
