Unitas reduces board members and appoints Simon Hannah chairman

Unitas Wholesale has reduced the number of board members from 16 to 12 and named Simon Hannah of JW Filshill as its new chairman.

According to the group’s managing director Darren Goldney, four members offered to resign their positions. They are Regal Wholesale (Birkenhead), JW Gray (Shetland and Orkney Islands), East End Foods (West Bromwich) and Time Wholesale (Rainham, Essex).

New Unitas chairman Simon Hannah.

Another change sees Sam Wilcox, managing director of AF Blakemore, retiring as chairman and Simon Hannah, managing director of Glasgow-based operator JW Filshill, replacing him in that position, effective from the end of January.

And complying with diversity, all board meetings will now be attended by a senior female member director “to provide insight and input and promote a pipeline of future female applicants for 2020 and beyond”.

Hannah said: “I am honoured and excited to be taking on the role of chairman of Unitas. There is a lot of ambition and energy within our membership and a lot of talent and experience within our board and executives.

“Our first very successful year has created an excellent platform for our members and suppliers to accelerate our growth together.”

Goldney commented: “The role of Unitas is to champion independent business and champion brand partners.

“We are better served in doing that when our leadership team can be representative and nimble. This critical part of our evolution will help us on our journey to be a first-choice partner.”

The 12 continuing board members are:

Simon Hannah (JW Filshill); Greg Suszczenia (AG Parfett & Sons); Manish Dhamecha (Dhamecha); Asim Sarwar (United Wholesale Scotland); Jim Cummiskey (Fáilte Foods); Andrew Wild (Wilds); Nick Ramsden (DB Ramsden & Co); Kali Mulchandani (Imperial Cash & Carry); James Russell (Blakemore Wholesale); Marcus Singh (Hyperama); Jay Suterwalla (Sutaka UK); and Amaan Ramzan (United Wholesale Grocers).

Tel: Unitas Wholesale (01302) 249909