A year of dedicated study was rewarded this month as seven Greene King business development managers (BDMs) graduated with a qualification geared towards helping them provide even better results for pubs across the country.
Since the brewery and pub company struck up a partnership with Birmingham City University in 2011, more than 50 Greene King team members across the managed and tenanted sides of the business have completed a year’s study alongside their day-to-day roles and all achieved a postgraduate diploma in multi-unit leadership and strategy.
This year’s cohort consisted of five Greene King Pub Partners BDMs: Graeme Marley, Paul Wishart, Elaine Kennedy, Nick Lawson and Mark Horton, along with Pub Partners head of audit Lee Sibary and Brewing & Brands BDM Asa Charlton.
This is the fifth time Greene King has backed its teams to take part in the programme, which helps grow and develop individuals’ skills to improve results across the business and offer a direct benefit to tenanted and leased pubs around the country.
Caroline Hollings, Pub Partners director of recruitment and HR, said: “We take pride in our work with BCU to enhance the skills of our BDMs, helping them provide tangible benefits to our partners and reinforcing Greene King’s position as an industry leader when it comes to training and development.
“It was a privilege to watch our latest group graduate on 9 January and join an ever growing number of the Pub Partners team who have completed this postgraduate diploma, many of whom have progressed within our business and continue to help and support partners in pubs across the country on a daily basis.”
There are currently 18 Greene King Pub Partners team members with the qualification, including two operations directors, seven BDMs, four operations managers, a recruitment manager and the commercial director.
John Forrest, Greene King Pub Partners managing director, said, “I am delighted to see how the strength in depth across the Pub Partners team continues to grow and flourish. Ours is a relationship business and we can clearly demonstrate that for our part, the support we offer is built upon a wealth of experience and education as we work with publicans to improve their businesses even further.
“I’m extremely proud of the latest team of graduates, who are a credit to Greene King and it’s very satisfying to be able to invest in teams and watch them develop and improve their already high-quality talents and skills.”