Thierry’s boosts senior management team

Thierry’s has boosted its senior management team with the appointment of Martin Horner as sales director, reporting to managing director, Hatim Dungarwalla.

He will work closely with marketing director, Matthew Dickinson and buying directors, Lindsay Talas and Dominique Vrigneau and will head up Thierry’s experienced team of national account managers.

Martin comments, “I was attracted to Thierry’s as a business with a strong set of values and plenty of appetite and ambition, not afraid to challenge the status quo and do things differently. I have a very strong track record of developing channel-specific trade strategies and look forward to bringing my experience to the table from a brand, category and commercial perspective. I’m really looking forward to working with the team.”

Martin joins the company from Organix Brands where he was head of sales. Previously, he held a number of senior sales, trade marketing and business development roles at Bacardi Brown Forman, working closely with all of the multiple grocers and specialists. He also implemented an on-trade spirits strategy across all brand. Before joining Bacardi Brown Forman, Martin worked in the food and grocery division of Nestlé. Martin has an adventurous spirit, counting mountain biking, skiing, adventure-racing and sailing amongst his past-times.

Hatim Dungarwalla says, “We’re very excited about Martin joining our senior team. He brings a great depth of experience and will add enormous value to our business. We have taken the decision to recruit outside the wine industry to enhance our wide knowledge about both consumer and customer, which we feel is crucial for our growth in the future”.

Yobana Bermúdez also joins Thierry’s in the newly-created role of Technical Manager.

Lindsay Talas, buying director, says, “Yobana is a very welcome addition to our team. We are raising the bar on quality standards in the wine industry by investing in someone who is completely dedicated to ensuring that we comply with today’s increasingly demanding technical requirements. This is a new role which reflects our long-term commitment to delivering excellence to our customers.”

Yobana joins Thierry’s from the top Spanish food specialist, Brindisa, where she worked in Quality Control. She brings a wealth of experience to the role, with over ten years in the food and drinks business, including the highly demanding seafood industry. She has a strong academic background, with a Masters in Biology and in Environmental Quality and Occupational Health. She is also an experienced auditor for both HACCP and the BRC. Yobana has a passion for good food and wine, a pre-requisite for all Thierry’s employees, and is a keen linguist.

Yobana’s strong credentials will complement and further boost Thierry’s buying, winemaking and quality control team. Thierry’s talented winemaker, Jeneve Williams, will continue to work closely with buying directors, Lindsay Talas, Dominique Vrigneau on a wide variety of winemaking and quality projects, to deliver the right product in the right place at the right time.

In the last two years, Thierry’s has moved into new areas with the launch of Cavendish Wines, selling exclusive wines to regional wholesalers as well as its B2C website for Radcliffe’s Wines. Last year Thierry’s appointed Becky Nichols (from Liz Earle) as marketing manager and Kerri Taylor as events executive. There were also several new appointments in Finance and Administration. This recruitment drive also forms part of the company’s global expansion plans - Thierry’s now exports to 17 new countries.