Name: Rich(ard) Holmes
Job title: Senior Supply Chain Coordinator
Tell us a bit about yourself
Married to Jo, and we have three children aged 10, 10 (twins) and 9. I like my footy, support Tranmere Rovers but now a season ticket holder at Stoke City (they got the kids). Music is my real passion, I play guitar and drums, and love live music. I’ve been lucky enough to get to gigs all over Europe and a few times to the States. Occasionally a part time festival organiser, too!
Describe your job to a five-year-old
I make sure the UK’s biggest building merchants have enough toilets, basins, baths and showers for some of our biggest customers.
What do you like most about your job?
Jobs are never “just jobs”, it’s always about interacting with a variety of people; and it is satisfying to play just a small part in delivering some of our big project wins.
How did you get here?
My background is retail head office buying and merchandising, starting at Littlewoods catalogues (now known as “Very”) and progressing into furniture with Harveys and Courts (quite similar to the world of bathrooms). Most recently I spent nearly 14 years with Poundland – a fantastic retailer – where my boss was my current boss, Colette Jones.
What motivates you?
Plotting a route to achieve challenging goals that look impossible at the outset, and continuous improvement.
If you could swap jobs with anyone, who would it be?
Emily Eavis (Glastonbury Festival co-organiser)
Your favourite song lyric or line from a film
There’s only one way of life, and that’s your own (Levellers “One Way”)
Your favourite app?
Candy Crush (currently level 12,019)
Biggest facepalm moment at work?
Littlewoods head office was a 14-storey building. I was working on the ninth floor at the time. Eager to get to the pub after work one Friday evening, the lift stopped at the 2nd floor, “What kind of **** stops a lift at the 2nd floor!” I quipped to the other occupants. The door opened and it was a colleague in a wheelchair, I just wanted the lift floor to swallow me up!