Ellison was appointed head of the UK operation and began in the role on 6 February, soon after Steve Shaw was promoted to managing director of Adare’s creative agency Purple and Mark McDonnell became head of Adare International’s global operations. All three report to newly appointed Adare International chief executive Andrew Dutton.
Another two new appointees, chief financial officer Ray Berry and HR director Julia Birkett, have come in over the past few weeks alongside Ellison.
“I spent quite a bit of time looking at the UK business and looking at its competitors and also trying to understand the sector in a bit more detail,” said Ellison.
“When I really started digging into Adare I got quite excited about the proposition of the UK business. The UK team is in a perfect place in terms of being able to draw on Purple, talking to clients about digital, but also being able to talk to large organisations.
“We’ve had a business with quite a heavy focus on global operations, it is a great market sector for us, but this is a real opportunity for me to put the UK business back on the map. The strategic organisation of Banner means I’m able to pull the best of the best."
Banner Managed Communication (BMC) was integrated with the Adare Group late last year, with £40m of its £50m turnover taken on by Adare International, along with its Hinckley, Swindon and London offices. Adare acquired BMC in May 2016.
Ellison said she has had two main areas of focus in her first nine weeks, one being driving and delivering transformational change through operations and the other being “creating a centre of excellence for the UK business”, focusing on warehouse logistics operations and supply chain relationships.
“From my point of view there are bags of opportunities but we have to identify key areas, do them really well, make sure they’re scalable and then take the best of the technology and the people that we’ve got in this business,” she added.
Ellison was previously with management consultancy Kelly Services for 17 years, rising from consultant to UK managing director. She joined Adare from leadership constancy Wickland Westcott, after 18 months as chief operating officer.
Adare International is this week fully implementing its €240m (£205m) Coca-Cola contract for the management of printing and promotional goods to Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP).
