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Barry Clare
In ten years (1991-2001) Barry created Boots Healthcare International, the international “over the counter” consumer healthcare business, of the Boots Company Plc. Starting with sales of £100 million (80% UK), the business became the fastest growing OTC company in Europe, with sales in 2001 of £460 million and profits of £70 million. BHI was sold to Reckitt Benckiser for £1.93 billion.
The transformation included significant acquisitions in France, Germany, Italy and USA, disposals in the UK and France and significant business restructuring, including plant closures in South Africa, Australia, Holland and Malaysia. An innovative approach to product development and international marketing enabled over 70 new products to be launched each year, through a distribution network established in over 130 countries worldwide.
Major international brand successes included Nurofen, Strepsils and Clearasil, managed through leading-edge business processes keeping the organisation lean and enhancing profitability. Following the success of BHI, Barry joined the Group Main Board at Boots. He re-organized the international health and beauty retail division, stemming losses and implementing a low-cost new business model, which facilitated faster, easier new market introductions in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
As a member of the Group Board, Barry was also involved in the strategic initiatives in the core UK Boots the Chemists retail chain, as well as the ground-breaking approach to pension funds. Barry was a non-executive director of Standard Chartered Bank from 2000 to 2003, and brought to the Group his experience in international marketing, retailing and acquisition integration, as the Bank increased its focus on the consumer business in emerging markets.
Barry is a natural science graduate from Cambridge and spent 10 years with Procter & Gamble throughout Europe in a variety of product development roles. He then became Vice President, Marketing for the speciality chemical company, Diversey in Toronto then owned by the Canadian brewer, Molson, and later acquired by Unilever.
Serving the food, beverage and hospitality industries, Barry implemented a differentiated, value-added strategy taking the company to market leadership with its global client base of the world’s leading companies of Coca Cola, Heineken, Nestlé, McDonald’s, Marriott, etc. Barry has extensive experience of strategy development, identifying sustainable differentiation and creating maximum value to shareholders through proven implementation.