Oliver Grave
International Project Director - Corporate Affairs / HR Governance, EDITEC - Global Lottery & Sports Betting Operator
Extensive experience in mastering Conceptual and Operational Projects (Strategy, Implementation, Performance) – successful in leading Management Teams (Start-up / Business Development Programs) to financial projections.
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EXPERTISE
► Business Development / Corporate and Regulatory Affairs
► Talent Management / Recruitment and Training of Management Teams
► Sales & Marketing / Retail, Vendor and Service, FMCG / CPG and Gambling Operations
► Operations - Project Management / Start-up and Expansion Programs
► Product Development / Translation of Market Insights in Product and Service Propositions
► International - Europe and Emerging Markets (Asia, Africa, South America)
ENTHUSIASM FOR MIND-CHANGING MARKETING CONCEPTS inspired me in 1982 to start my career at “Basisresearch” (an Institute for Market-, Motive-, Opinion-Research / part of the WPP Group). I continued to work for 6 years in different marketing agencies, in particular Consumer-, Market-, and Media-Analysis, Communication / Campaign Management and Media Production.
KEEN TO APPLY MY MARKETING EXPERTISE IN A CONSUMER- FOCUSED ORGANISATION, in 1988 I joined “Weingewölbe”, a group of retail and food-service operations. While working there my team and I delivered on-going commercial growth, through retail development / network expansion in line with sales- enhancing promotion programs and the introduction of advanced category management / purchasing procedures.
EAGER TO DEVELOP MY ABILITIES IN A DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT, in 1997 I moved to London, where I consolidated my retail / food service expertise at “Harrods”. In 1998 "Shamrock", a leading food distributor, invited me to develop a new category of fresh, pre-packed, value-added food products for national retail / grocery chains. This new category doubled the company’s revenue and profit, while I guided sales and marketing concepts, in line with sourcing / purchasing programs and international trade /supply chain relations.
In 2002/3, after 12 years in the food and beverage (wine) industry, I transferred my retail expertise to technical / telecommunication products and managed pre-paid voucher card concepts, call-shop services and carrier interconnections.
In 2004 “Phillips Foods” approached me to lead their European Business Development Programme. I established a sales and distribution network for fresh / chilled and frozen food specialties in Austria, Benelux, France, Germany, Italy,Scandinavia, Spain and Switzerland (from scratch). I enjoyed influencing leading retail / consumer goods experts across Europe. In 2006/7 “Binca Group”, the leading producer of organic and natural aquaculture products from Vietnam, utilised my food industry knowledge to develop new customer relations.
NOTORIOUS FOR MY APPETITE FOR NEW CHALLENGES, and in line with my interest to explore business opportunities in Emerging Markets, in 2008 I joined “EDITEC”, a successful Lottery and Sports Betting Operator. I assumed responsibility for Corporate and Regulatory Affairs, in particular the validation, development and instruction of 18 national operation teams and various start-up projects in Africa, Asia and South-America.
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CONTACT o.grave@yahoo.co.uk
PORTFOLIO: http://oliver-grave.blogspot.com
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NETWORK
***** LINKEDIN - NETWORK
http://www.linkedin.com/in/ograve
101 contactsInternational Project Director - Corporate Affairs / HR Governance, EDITEC - Global Lottery & Sports Betting Operator
Leading Lottery and Sports Betting Operator in Africa – 1.2 billion transactions / year – 21 national operations – 35,000 Point-of-Sales – http://www.world-lotteries.org
► Corporate and Regulatory Affairs – DEVELOPMENT of business partnerships, investor and government relations for start-up of new operations (Africa, Asia and South America).
► HR Governance - Resourcing / Recruitment - Introduction / Training of Operations Experts - Employee Relations - Talent Management / Coaching of 200 Specialists across 24 Countries.
► START-UP of national operations – Finance / Budget projection – recruitment, selection, instruction and validation of Management-Teams / Sales Operations (Betting-Shops, Shop-in-Shop- and Reseller Concepts).
► GUIDANCE of Marketing strategy (Brand- and Product design, Media- and PR-Campaigns, Direct Marketing and Promotion Programs)
► PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT for EPOS Systems – E-Commerce / Value-Added-Services VAS
Oliver supports "FRIEND OF THE SEA" http://www.friendofthesea.org – an environmental agency offering certification / promotion concepts for sustainable fisheries and natural aquaculture.
2006 - 2007Organic and nature-orientated Aquaculture Products - http://oliver-grave.blogspot.com/2007/11/binca-...
- DEVELOPMENT of Business Relations for sales and distribution of organic and nature-orientated Aquaculture Products in Europe, America and Asia – focus: food retailers, groceries, wholesalers, bulk-consumers, food industry.
- ORGANISATION of on-line / off-line Direct Marketing, international trade-fair expositions – negotiation and guidance of Sales and Distribution Partnerships (Business Planning).
- PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT of organic and nature-orientated food specialities (value added products).
- Successful COMMERCIAL LAUNCH of “new” Premium-Products with leading retail organisations: Carrefour, Cuisine Solutions, Metro, Picard ….
2004 - 2006Luxury Food Delicatessen – http://www.phillipsfoods.com
- START-UP / DEVELOPMENT of European Business Relations, for sales and distribution of fresh and frozen Food Delicatessen in: Austria, Benelux, France, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, Spain and Switzerland.
- ORGANISATION of European Import- und Sales-Logistics (incl. adjustment of U.S. to EU Labelling- and Packaging - Standards).
2003 - 2004Telecommunications – http://oliver-grave.blogspot.com/2007/11/phone-...
- ANALYSIS of business potentials in the Telecommunication Industry: Internet- / Call-Shops, Prepaid Calling-Cards, Carrier-to-Carrier business (international voice / data connections).
- DEVELOPMENT of Business Plan – Recruitment, Selection and Training of Management-Team – installation of technical infrastructure and equipment – Operations of Telecommunication Services (Procurement and Commercial Administration).
- ACQUISITION / SET-UP of new accounts: Telecommunication Carriers, Call-Shop Operators and Calling-Card Wholesalers.
2002 - 2003Telecommunications / Prepaid Calling-Cards - http://www.vectone.com
- INTERPRETATION / MODERATION of Business Guidelines between Company Headquarters in London, European Sales Subsidiaries and Key-Accounts in: Austria, Benelux, Germany and Switzerland.
- EXPANSION of gross-revenues by 25 % – through: improved Sales Performance, implementation of customer requirements (development and introduction of customised products and services) and reform of business conditions (introduction of efficient credit- and payment control).
1998 - 2002Food Trade - http://www.shamrock-lachs.de
- DEVELOPMENT of new Product-Category (fresh, chilled, pre-packed / MAP – Seafood Products)
- GUIDANCE of Brand-, Trade-Marketing- and Category-Management-Concepts
- Recruitment, Selection, Training and MANAGEMENT of Operations-Team
- AKQUISTION and SET-UP of new accounts with leading food retail organisations: Edeka, Rewe, Wal-Mart…
- COMMERCIAL MANAGEMENT (P+L – Procurement / Sales, Logistics...) – increase of gross-revenues by 100 % – margin improvement: 10 / 15 % EBITA
1997 - 1998Department Store – http://www.harrods.com
- Consolidation of EXPERTISE in Food Trade und Catering Industry
- CUSTOMER CARE for sophisticated consumers of Luxury Food Delicatessen at Harrods Food Halls.
1988 - 1997Retail & Food Service Operations – http://oliver-grave.blogspot.com/2007/11/wiesba...
- MANAGEMENT of Retail- and Food Service Business (Guidance of 300 employees – Servicing up to 5000 customers / day)
- DEVELOPMENT of cross functional price / margin system (off-trade / on-trade)
- DECREASE of purchasing costs through negotiation of advanced buying conditions (commercial storage credit, volume prices, bonus / rebate, marketing allocation budget...).
- INCREASE of gross-turnover and net profit, through implementation of effective CRM and Direct Marketing Concepts
1986 - 1988Agency (Product-Promotions / Trade Marketing) – http://oliver-grave.blogspot.com/2007/11/beratu...
- MANAGEMENT of Market- and Benchmarking-Analysis
- DEVELOPMENT of Promotion Programs (below-the-line: Product Presentations, Press Conferences, Trade-Fair Exposition, Event-Marketing, Sport Sponsoring).
- CO-ORDINATION, Production and Procurement of Print-Materials (Publications, Brochures, Catalogues), Packaging- and Sales Equipment – Management of Graphic-Design und Multi-Media-Projects.
Diageo / UDV – http://www.diageo.de
Holiday Inn – http://www.ihgplc.com
LVMH / Veuve Clicquot – http://www.veuve-clicquot.com
Oetker Group – http://www.henkell-soehnlein.com – http://www.fuerst-von-metternich.com
Remy Cointreau – http://www.remy-cointreau.com
Seagram
1984 - 1986Public-Relations Agency – http://oliver-grave.blogspot.com/2007/11/kg-pub...
- EDITING of Customer- and Associate- (in-house) Publications
- MANAGEMENT of Press Conferences and PR-Events
- PRODUCTION and Buying of Design formats for: Print, Radio and TV
National Lottery – http://www.westlotto.de – http://www.gluecksspirale.de
Westspiel – Casino Group – http://www.westspiel.de
1984 - 1984Media Agency – http://www.carat.com – http://www.aegisplc.com
- Consolidation of EXPERTISE in strategic Planning of national und international Communications- and Media Campaigns
- SELECTION and EVALUATION of effective Media Planning (Contact-Quality, Contact-Price and Contact-Volume)
BMW – http://www.bmw.com
Deutsche Post – http://www.deutschepost.de/dpag?xmlFile=828&lan...
Deutsche Bahn – http://www.db.de
Remy Cointreau – http://www.remy-cointreau.com
Time Life – http://www.timelife-europe.com
1982 - 1983Market Research – subsidiary of J. Walter Thompson / WPP Group - http://www.jwt.com - http://www.wpp.com - http://www.millwardbrown.com
- Interview of Opinion Leaders (Entrepreneurs, Business Leaders, Medical Specialists) and Consumers to explore opinion characteristics and behaviour patterns – for Consumer Goods Industry, Publishing and Automotive Companies, Pharmaceutical Industry and Government Agencies.
Ford – http://www.ford.com
Fresenius Medical Care – http://www.fmc-ag.com
Mars / Master Foods – http://www.masterfoods.com
Spiegel Magazine – http://www.spiegel.de/international/