Dee is a One Stop retailer with two stores in Derbyshire, both stores are about 1000sq ft. He has been in the retail industry about 20+ years.
He set up the News R Us store back in 2003 when it was just a small paper shop. Instead of just turning straight into a Londis he decided to develop in the paper round trade where he grew to delivering to over 2,000 people.
Dennis Williams and his wife Linda own and run the multi-award winning Broadway Convenience Store in Edinburgh, a family business for over thirty years. They are very community-orientated, running many events and initiatives both inside and out with the store, and are active members of the ACS and the Scottish Grocers Federation, strong believers in the value of networking and working in partnership with suppliers.
Sunder was born in Leamington Spa, getting into retail straight after leaving school. He has been running the same store for 34 years, managing to obtain D32/33 and Investors In People. His store has been featured as part of a study tour by AACS (the Australasian Association of Convenience Stores) where a group of 30 flew over to discover the best in UK convenience retailing.
Sunder is a governor for two local schools, has been a Magistrate for 10 years at Coventry Court and is an international member of NACS.
Independent retailer Ramesh Shingadia owns and operates with his family two stores in Horsham, Sussex, and he has been involved in the retail sector for 40 years, winning a number of industry awards for Store of the Year, as well as a host of other accolades. Ramesh moves into the position of Chair from his previous position of Vice Chair on the ACS board, which he has held since February 2021. Ramesh joined the ACS board in 2017. .
Rav is currently running five stores in the Midlands area; Shrewsbury, Birmingham, Walsall, Broadway and Sutton Coldfield. He is also due to open another store this November in Portsmouth under the new Nisa fascia.
Having spent time away from the business at University and working in London for a German independent financial advice firm, he soon felt the pull back into the family business, which back then was a small off-licence in Halesowen, Birmingham. The business expanded rapidly to the 5 current stores, with 1 post office.
Phil took up the role of CEO for one of the UK’s largest independent Co-operative Societies, The Midcounties Co-operative, in August 2018 having originally joined to run its food retail business in 2015. Prior to joining The Midcounties Co-op, Phil was at the Southern Co-operative, where he was Chief Operating Officer for seven years.
He is Vice Chair (People and Culture) of the Association of Convenience Stores and a Director for Federal Retail Trading Services Ltd which binds the relationship between the UK’s co-operatives involved in food retail.
Paul is a dedicated customer champion and puts the continued success of his family business to listening to the customer’s exact needs and adapting his business where necessary to reflect those needs.
Malcolm's has been run by the Cheema family for over 31 years and operates three different models, a convenience store, a discount format and the latest addition, a forecourt.
Andrew joined WRBM 1992, with responsibility for the circulation and marketing services for Forecourt Trader and Off Licence News. Andrew grew the events & exhibitions portfolio, becoming Divisional MD in 2002, and now oversees central events contracts, the International Wine Challenge and an exhibitions portfolio that encompasses 10 shows and a team of 30.
Patrick is a Sewell Group main board director and managing director of Sewell Retail Ltd. The Sewell Group in varying guises has been a Hull company for over 137 years. The company today are a multi-disciplined organisation with expertise across Investment, Development, Construction, Facilities Management and Retail.
In recent years, the Group have consistently been recognised in the Sunday Times Best Companies to Work for. Furthermore both Patrick and his Company have been awarded Retailer Champion of the Year 2010 and Forecourt Trader of the Year 2009.
