Most of the time when you hear from ACS in the media or at an event, it’s through me or one of the senior team. That’s deliberate, we’re paid to articulate members’ views and it’s much quicker and more efficient for us to issue comment as soon as developments happen rather than creating a long sign-off process especially involving retailers busy in their stores and communities. For this reason the chief executive is sometimes the one seen as “being” the organisation, especially because I’ve been here for a long time.

In reality, the organisation “is” hundreds of people and thousands of interactions driving the work we do, and crucial to bringing that together is the board of directors and especially the ACS Chair. Making sure ACS is speaking for everybody, including all parts of the membership in decisions and activity, and keeping the board operating effectively is a tough job, and one that falls to the Chair for the two year term they are in the hotseat. This challenging role is unpaid and often under recognised, but as ACS changes the guard, I wanted to reflect on what Ramesh Shingadia has brought to the role. I should say that in Phil Ponsonby we have a fantastic new chair, but this blog is about Ramesh.

Firstly, a personal memory. When Ramesh was elected chair we talked about how we wanted to keep in touch and the structure for chair / CEO calls. We decided to meet up for some of these conversations face-to-face and to combine them with a walk somewhere – hiking is one of Ramesh’s great passions and I’m always up for a stroll so it made sense. As always happens with these nice ideas, diaries and commitments meant we only managed to do this a few times, but we summited Box Hill and Leith Hill and then had a lovely wander in Buckinghamshire during which my dog Flo chased a deer (15-20 times bigger than her) and got lost for a few terrifying minutes. Ramesh remained entirely calm while I thought about every tragic outcome for Flo and the deer, before she emerged … and that serves as a not-too-tenuous metaphor for Ramesh’s work in the role over those two years.

Ramesh has a lot of experience working with local health, education and community groups, and that came through in his work as ACS chair. He wasn’t just receptive to other directors’ views, he actively sought them out, spending countless hours talking about their views of the industry, of ACS and of the board, and it’s those hard yards behind the scenes that create a coherent and aligned organisation. Ramesh holds the respect of the biggest groups’ CEOs and independent retailers alike, and he was always a willing participant in events even though – as he has told me more than once – public speaking and being on stage isn’t his comfort zone. Well I can tell you, Ramesh, that you’re a natural and anyone at ACS’ 30th anniversary dinner which you co-hosted would agree.

Perhaps the biggest thing of all in terms of the qualities needed to be a great ACS chair, is being a great retailer in your own right. It’s a huge asset to know that the person leading the organisation is a top example of the sector at its best, and Ramesh’s two stores in Sussex, run with his wife, two sons and a committed team, are everything that’s good about our sector: high standards, a range of services as well as products, and a close relationship with customers and the community.

Ramesh’s success as a businessman was not gifted to him. Like most of the retailers we work with, the Shingadia family’s back story is of risking everything to set up his first store, just managing to navigate through exceptionally tough times as interest rates, competition and crime threatened the business. They not only came through this, they thrived and then invested back into the community. Ramesh is the story of our industry encapsulated in a person and a family, and it’s appropriate that he has fulfilled the role of ACS chair, at the pinnacle of that sector.

It would be wrong of me not to mention that if Ramesh’s first 22 months in the role were hard work for him, the last two have been especially tough as he started the process of looking for a new chief executive. As always, he approached this with great diligence, setting up processes and finding the right experts to help, and I’m sure it will result in a great appointment. This is no easy task for anyone, more so an independent without PAs, HR departments and the other trappings of corporate roles. It says a lot for Ramesh that he took this challenge on, and will continue to play a vital part in the recruitment process, and on the ACS’ board, moving forward.

Thanks, Ramesh, and I hope we can get out for another walk soon. I’ll keep Flo on the lead this time.