Nigel's Blog
Hi, I'm Nigel the Chief Executive of Retail Trust.
The coming year will be a time of growth and change for Retail Trust. The charity will be working more closely than ever with organisations in the retail sector as we cement ourselves as the charity committed to the well-being of employees in the retail industry.
Part of working more closely with the industry is communication. Technology allows me to communicate with you through this blog – spelling mistakes and all! So please feel free to email me on the Contact page with feedback, ideas, or just to swap stories about our blogs. Enjoy!
You can read my biography on our Trustees and Chief Executive page.
Nigel J L Rothband
Chief Executive
Read Nigel's Blog
05 September 2009 : Roll Up Roll Up
Mike and Carol Clare are great supporters of Retail Trust. They ran Dreams for many years and Mike is now involved in a number of business activities primarily set up to help people.
Their summer party this evening at their home, Turville Court, was simply the best party I have ever been to.
Looking at the invitation, we knew the party was going to have a circus theme.
To walk into a party and be ushered into the Big Top to have dinner and watch a full blown circus was an amazing experience.
The atmosphere, food, company and entertainment were all fabulous.
Well done Pauline for putting on such a fantastic party and thank you again to Mike and Carol.
03 September 2009 : Radio Head
Our season of redundancy workshops start again today with more help and support being given to junior management from retail, helping them move from redundancy to recruitment.
Then it will be off to the RLI mix, an excellent networking event put on by the energetic publisher of RLI magazine, Jayne Rafter.
This evening will be exciting, it starts with the launch of "Blondes in Business" (Audra Lamoon and Sue Gilks) I can't wait.
The evening will be rounded off with me reviewing the week's news as a guest on JNet Radio. I'm on from 9.00 p.m. till midnight.
02 September 2009 : 160 Years Older Than Us
Audit committee this morning signed off the statutory accounts for the year in preparation for the AGM next week. More of that next week!
A quick trip accross town to Hoare & Co for a meeting with my old mate Simon Collins. I always enjoy talking about Retail Trust's history and the fact we have been around for 177 years. Simon reminded me that Hoare & Co have been Private Bankers since 1672. Enough said!
Two meetings with Trustees followed, the first with Adrian Wright who chairs our Investment Committee and the second with John Dean who will shortly step down as CEO of bssa following their merger with the British Hardware Federation.
01 September 2009 : Mills & Boom
I cannot believe the explosion of calls to our Helpline 0808 801 0808.
As another month comes to an end, another record has been smashed as we record another monthly record. Calls have risen almost four fold in just three years!
What a great time for Anthony Mills, an experienced EAP Manager, to join us. Welcome Anthony and I look forward to working with you and developing our EAP plan that will make us the leader in our field.
28 August 2009 : Storm Meeting Blows Me away
The executive team meet together every Monday to review operational issues and share our thoughts.
We also meet to take time out to discuss strategic issues. We are calling these sessions Storm Meetings. Today's Storm Meeting was to discuss our housing business. We are building up to a strategic review with the board at the beginning of next year. Each board meeting we discuss a particular topic and housing is on the agenda for November. In preparation for the November meeting, a lively debate took place.
I will prepare a paper to go to the September meeting to give the board an opportunity to review the exec teams views.
26 August 2009 : Stars In The Making
Retail Trust Search For A Star auditions have more posts on YouTube. Also there is Retail Trust's very own Anahid explaining how easy it is to enter, see them all here.
25 August 2009 : London Calling
A trip to Debenhams (just behind Oxford St.) was first thing this morning. A brief chat with CEO Rob Templeman was followed by a detailed review with Retail Director Nigel Palmer and HR Director Nicki Zamblera.
Debs. have been great supporters for many years. They promote our employee assistance programme to their staff, they sell our charms in their stores, they take part in Retail Trust Week and they attend many of our events. I am sure they will be puting acts forward for Reatil Trust Search For A Star too.
Susan Reid, the stores director for the north, has been an outstanding supporter for the past couple of years. Not only does she chair our Scottish Ball committee, she also leads the charge when it comes to Retail Trust Week. We discussed ways in which we can support each other over the next few months.
Chris and I worked together for many years when I was at Top Shop/Top Man. We met up in the West End this afternoon for a chat and we discussed our ReWork programme and Chris has got his mame down to attend one of our forthcoming sessions which are designed to get people from redundancy back into recruitment. Good luck Chris.
Final stop was Clarence House for a meeting with Padma Moorjani and Boo Armstrong - yes Boo - don't ask! The Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health was founded in 1993 by HRH The Prince of Wales to champion integrated healthcare for all.
We had a lively and animated discussion and I am keen to help where I can.
24 August 2009 : You Tube Fun
The Retail Trust Search For A Star competition is hotting up.
You can now see a number of acts starting to load their clips onto our Youtube site.
Please encourage friends or work mates to enter - it's not too late. If they have entered already then get them to upload their clips here.
23 August 2009 : Chapel Champions
The chapel service was inspirational and the collection was outstanding.
The collection raised just about £1,500. A record!!!!!!!!
Immediately afterwards we had the group photo. I will give a pound to anyone who can spot where I am!
Thank you so much to all the bssa Oxford Summer School students - Have a great week.
22 August 2009 : Leadership And The Summer School
I love going to the bssa Oxford Summer School which is held at Keble College Oxford each summer. Two hundred bright rising stars from the retail world turn up for a week's course. They are split into groups and spend their time working together and listening to guest speakers on topics ranging from marketing to finance.
Retail Trust, together with Skillsmart Retail, sponsor ten places to the school and I am honoured to address the students at the opening of the school on the Saturday night. The theme this year was the Challenge of Leadership. It gave me an opportunity to tackle the topic and explain more about the work of Retail Trust. I also reminded them that the collection at the chapel service in the morning was in aid of Retail Trust and the special collection bags do not take coins.... just notes!
Let's see what effect it has. The record was set last year at around £1,100.
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