CEO · Managing Director · GAICD · Former Top 3 CMO
Growth and profit. Brand and performance. Purpose and results.
I've spent 20 years proving you don't have to choose. You build both.
I'm an engineer turned marketer turned MD with a track record across Unilever, Naked Wines, and Big Red Group of rewiring consumer businesses, building challenger cultures, and delivering transformation that's commercially rigorous AND genuinely purpose-led.
AND engagement at all-time high
AND margins +350bps
AND challenger brand operator
AND GAICD
My story
I grew up watching my dad work the same job from age 15 just to keep the bills paid. People in nursing, teaching, community work doing extraordinary things for others but unable to get ahead themselves. It felt like a false choice. I've spent 20 years proving that doing good and doing great go hand in hand.
Twelve years at Unilever across Dove, Magnum, Ben & Jerry's... under Paul Polman when purpose-led performance wasn't a nice-to-have, it was the operating system. I moved from marketing into running divisions, led two significant turnarounds, scaled B Corps, and built challenger cultures inside a global machine. Then I needed real accountability. DTC scale at Naked Wines as CMO, growing 41% during COVID. Post-M&A complexity at Big Red Group, consolidating four brands simultaneously. And the genuine deep end: back to Naked as MD, mid-liquidity crisis.
Fifty-seven winemakers whose livelihoods were at risk. A team under real stress. A model that needed rewiring from the ground up. We doubled down on the values and the commercial ambition in equal measure... rebuilt the culture, rewired the commercial engine, supported the winemaker community through their own solvency challenges. EBIT tripled. Engagement at its highest ever. Australia became the blueprint for the group's global recovery.
That's the thread through everything. I'm drawn to businesses and people that refuse to choose. Scale and profit. Purpose and performance. Transformation and keeping the engines running. Mission and commercial ambition. My focus is on leaving every business and every person not just better off than I found them... but realising their true potential.
Rewiring a business system.Not optimising. Genuine transformation: a turnaround, a step change in growth, a post-acquisition integration, or a business that's hit the ceiling of what its current model can deliver.
Genuine purpose to build around.Not a brand line. A real reason the business should exist that connects to something bigger than the margin. When you find it, it's not a distraction from performance. It's an accelerant.
Uniting people across silos.Replacing "we can't because" with "we can if." Building a genuine challenger culture, not as a vibe, but as a commercial operating system that unlocks people ahead of resources.
How I think
Most businesses treat these as tensions to manage. I've found they're multipliers when you set them up right.
Scaling revenue without sacrificing margin. Turned around declining divisions and grew businesses 41% while simultaneously fixing unit economics.
Long-term brand building and short-term commercial results aren't enemies. Same strategy, different time horizons.
The scrappiness of a challenger brand and the discipline of a global P&L. I've led in both environments and bring the best of each.
Purpose isn't a side project. It's a commercial accelerant when wired into the model. Results validate the purpose; purpose makes the results worth having.
Core competencies
A "we can if" leader who builds challenger cultures, replacing "we can't because" with collective belief, and unlocking people ahead of resources.
Finding growth where the model has stalled — reversing decline, breaking through ceilings, and creating new markets in businesses others had written off.
Portfolios from $70M to $500M across listed corporate, post-acquisition, and DTC models. Board-level reporting in each.
Uniting boards, retailers, members, winemakers, government, and cross-functional teams around bold collective missions.
M&A due diligence, post-acquisition integration, new business model design, and professionalising founder-led businesses.
Career
Led the Australian turnaround under liquidity constraints, returning the business to growth and creating the blueprint for the group's global recovery.
Post-acquisition integration and digital transformation across RedBalloon, Adrenaline, and Experience Oz.
Scaling the DTC challenger brand whilst fixing the underlying economics.
Restoring growth and transforming profitability for a division diluting overall ANZ operating margins.
Re-engineering a legacy portfolio to win market share and exceed commercial expectations.
Growth advisory and fractional partnerships for scale-ups and NGOs.
Eight years building commercial craft across Brand, Shopper, and Sales functions. Roles spanning Dove Men, Lynx, Rexona, Magnum, Cornetto, and Male Grooming portfolios across UK/Europe and ANZ.
What people say
His unique point of difference is his ability to combine an inspiring vision for "doing great by doing good" with very astute strategic thinking and commercial skills. I believe Paul sets a new standard of the role today's leaders should play both to deliver business results and inspire change.
PC is one of the most ambitious leaders I've worked with. He pushed us to raise the bar on how we represent Naked, internally and externally, and was never satisfied with "good enough." He brings clarity, sets high expectations, and creates an environment where people step up.
The reason I was so keen to lure him back for a second stint is that Paul brings you a much broader skillset. He is comfortable and extremely able to deliver commercial goals, and has the ability to engage and enthuse operational teams.
He leads authentically, he's highly mission & brand driven, and he champions people & nurtures them to succeed. I've seen first hand how this type of leadership has enabled him to deliver compelling commercial results in a tough category. Run, don't walk if you have the chance to work with him.
A great understanding of commercial growth coupled with financial acumen. Above all else he leads a team without driving them. Can't recommend him enough.
An exceptional leader when it comes to AI adoption. What made the difference was how openly he shared his own use of AI, including mistakes and unexpected wins. That vulnerability created safety, and that safety created real momentum across the team.
A consummate professional with next level skills, deep experience, an innovative mindset and a genuine caring nature. During our work on large martech projects his leadership resulted in frictionless collaboration between technology, product, and front of house.
One of the best and inspiring managers I have worked with in the last 10 years. He has a strong eye for strategy, great hunger for unlocking new business and thrives on cementing purpose across brands. An ambition or challenge is never too big for him.
He cares about his team mates and has been a passionate advocate for our brand's positive social impact. A strong strategic thinker, effectively outspoken and committed to driving growth across the business, top to bottom lines.
As leaders go, Paul's the best example I've seen. He creates vision and direction for a cross-functional team, inspiring those around him to lead with purpose and compassion to deliver impact.
He's got this amazing ability to blend bold, creative marketing with smart, strategic business growth goals. He builds teams you actually want to work with: talented, driven, and just fun to be around.
Credentials
Education
Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, 2025
Education
Manufacturing Engineering & Management, University of Warwick, 2006
Recognition
CMO50 Awards, recognising the most innovative and effective marketing leaders
Recognition
Judge, Mi3 CMO Awards, 2026
Board experience
Board Director, overseeing franchise business across 26 retail stores (2017–2019)
Board experience
Australia's leadership community of 150+ senior marketing leaders
Board experience
Board member championing business as a force for social and environmental good
Board experience
Board member supporting social enterprise and youth disadvantage
Academic
Guest Lecturer at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership
Recognition
Selected scholar in Australia's premier leadership programme for senior marketers, 2015
Leadership roles
I'm looking for my next leadership role. A business that needs transformation, a purpose worth building around, and people ready to do both at once. If that sounds like yours, I'd love to hear from you.
Advisory & interim
For businesses that refuse to choose. I also work as a strategic advisor and fractional leader, helping ambitious businesses perform and matter at the same time, without compromise.
Visit Both And Group →