Part-time & Interim Commercial Director
Commercial leadership for businesses in media, marketing and sustainability.
1–3 days a week | Berkshire, Surrey & London
What I bring
I've spent more than 25 years in commercial and marketing roles. I held senior positions at BBC Worldwide, Universal Pictures and BAA, and was Managing Director of Archant Dialogue and Ultima Media.
I've run businesses myself, so I know what it's like to make these decisions with real money and real people at stake.
How I approach the role
I start by finding out how your business really makes its money and what is getting in the way. Then I work with you and your team to agree priorities and see them through.
Where do we make money and where are we losing value?
Is our proposition right for the market?
Which customers, markets and opportunities should we prioritise?
What should we change, stop or do differently?
I then work with the team to turn the answers into practical priorities and action, considering commercial performance, risk, resilience and sustainability where relevant.
Selected Deliverables
Publishing business review: Advised University World News on a business, positioning and commercial review, resulting in a new direction for content, positioning and business model.
Pandemic business transformation: Moved Ultima Media, a £7m legacy business, into digital, data and custom content. A new broadcast programme of livestreams, webinars, podcasts and a virtual summit brought 6,000 new registrations and a year-on-year uplift in profitable digital revenue.
Turnaround and profit: Took Archant Dialogue to c£6m turnover and a £900k margin improvement, with 10% organic growth while keeping key clients. Repositioned three media and marketing businesses and restructured three more.
Commercial growth: Led UK distribution and marketing at Universal Pictures to 34% growth to £150m revenue and a 41% contribution improvement. Built a CRM segmentation and buyer-intent model that redefined retail and digital distribution across a £15m+ budget.
Operational discipline: Audited supplier contracts for over £12m in savings across print, IT, CRM, marketing and business services. Built financial dashboards that showed where profit and cash were made, so teams could focus effort and resource.
Sustainability as a commercial lever: Helped retain contracts for Acosta Europe through a tender and delivered commercial ESG training to over 100 employees. Built internal ESG capability and a supply-chain credentials framework at Financial Services PLC and turned an NHS hospice's carbon audit into capability-building and renewables recommendations.
Sustainability as a commercial specialism
Since 2022, I’ve also focused on sustainability and its commercial implications.
I help organisations understand customer and supply-chain requirements, costs, risks and opportunities, and consider how sustainability priorities can be put into practice. My work includes sustainability strategy, carbon reduction, circularity, renewables business cases, workshops and training.
“Gavin combines commercial thinking with practical sustainability expertise. He focuses on what sustainability means in real business terms rather than theory or ESG reporting.
He provided clear, actionable advice and a coaching style that helped us rethink how we approached the challenges we were facing.
He also delivered a written strategy document that gave us a practical foundation and pathway for moving forward.It was a strong mix of commercial clarity, practical sustainability insight and hands-on support.”
-- Nick Payne, Managing Director SA Brain
What clients say
I've worked with Gavin for the past two and a half years and have found him to be a truly inspirational leader. His expertise in running businesses (and turning them around!) is second to none. I have learned more from him about business strategy, commercial awareness and people management in the past two years than I have during my entire 17-year career in publishing. Not just a great leader but mentor and businessman,
-- Zoe Francis-Cox, CEO Dialogue (formerly Archant Dialogue)
“What really sets Gavin apart is how well he gets both the sustainability world and the commercial one. That mix meant we ended up with a strategy that wasn’t just ‘nice to have’ but something people could get behind and deliver. He brought our teams along for the ride and helped us talk to clients about it in a way that felt honest, inspiring, and practical.
He made a big difference to our journey. I’m really glad we had him on board and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend him to anyone looking to do sustainability properly."
-- Group Managing Director, Retail Marketing & Logistics Company
"Gavin facilitated a full-day sustainability session for a room of people from the same sector but with very different commercial priorities. He managed something genuinely difficult - bridging real commercial pressures with genuine sustainability ambition, without making either feel like a compromise.
His candour, warmth and depth of experience created an environment where people felt comfortable being honest and had their thinking genuinely challenged. Lively, enjoyable and substantive - a rare combination.
If you're looking for a facilitator who can hold a complex room and leave people energised, I'd recommend Gavin without hesitation."
-- Cheryl Chung, Corporate & Government Affairs
About me.
I'm a strategic marketing director and commercial leader with more than 25 years' experience. I've worked at BBC Worldwide and Universal Pictures, and been Managing Director of B2B media and marketing businesses.
I've worked on the decisions that shape how a business performs: what it offers, how it positions itself, where it makes money, and when to change. I look past the story a business tells about itself to see what's really happening, then work with people to decide what to do next.
I'm based in Berkshire and work with businesses across Berkshire, Surrey and London.
Qualifications
MBA
Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM)
Future-Fit Business Benchmark Accredited Advisor
Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)
Accredited Carbon Literacy Facilitator
Course Director, CIM Sustainability & Marketing
Corporate Governance Institute, Board Oversight & ESG Governance
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