Meet Richard Pearson – Executive General Manager, Convenience Retail

Richard is accountable for leading the transformation of Caltex’s retail and consumer fuel business. Richard has worked in retail and consumer goods for twenty years in Australia and the UK with a broad range of leadership experience across commercial functions. Before joining Caltex, Richard was a member of the leadership team at Coles Supermarkets where he was most recently the Supply Chain & Strategy Director. Prior to this, Richard was the Merchandise Director and the Director responsible for Coles Express.

Tell us what gets you firing in the morning?

I love the ability that retail gives you to make changes that make a big difference to our customers. Some of these are small and incremental such as launching a new product and others like The Foodary are game changers. Either way being able to make things happen quickly is what I love about retail.

Who inspires you when you look around the Australian business community?

Since launching The Foodary, our new café style convenience store, we’re meeting more entrepreneurs in fresh food and services than ever before. We’re inspired by the quality of products such as Eat Fit Food (Bianca Monley) and YouFoodz and their agility in moving through a test and learn phase to national roll out.

We also acquired a small sandwich and coffee chain named Nashi, founded by entrepreneur Sam Nash, whose fresh daily range keeps evolving to meet customer expectations, lifting the bar for everyone in the business of fresh food on the go.

What excites you about Caltex Spark?

I’m intrigued by the possibilities it presents. I look forward to meeting smart change agents who will challenge our existing model and take us in new directions to drive accelerated future growth.

What’s the biggest lesson you have learnt in your career?

I’ve spent my career in consumer goods and retail and the biggest truth I know is that if you look after your customers and build your business around solving problems for customers and making life easy for them, then you will stand a decent chance of succeeding.

Tell us something people don’t know about you?

I used to be a half decent cricketer and spent a few years after leaving university playing professionally in the English County system. I still think I can play like I used to but anyone who has seen me recently playing veterans cricket would know I’m kidding myself.

Do you know someone with a business idea that could help Caltex and their customers in the area of Mobility, Retail, Convenience or Efficiency? Or maybe you can amaze us with something completely different.

Join us to meet the Caltex and Slingshot team working on the Spark Accelerator at a Roadshow near you.