Management

Alan Morris

Alan Morris is the company’s Managing Director and one of its founders.  A skilled business systems practitioner and visionary with more than 20 year’s experience of the retail industry, Alan has driven the company forward from a concept to a $multi-million turnover organisation.

Alan began his career in the mid 1980s with the Sears Group (UK), including Foster’s Menswear and Adams Childrenswear, managing major projects throughout the entire supply chain, including the implementation of POS, Merchandise Management and Warehousing ERP systems.

In the mid-1990’s Alan observed a gap between the retailer and the IT solution provider and the need for an expanding/retracting pool of resources.  To bridge this gap, he set up retail IT services company Compass Retail Associates with his colleague Gary Broughton in 1995.  Four years later, the business and concept evolved into what is today’s Retail Assist. 

Alan’s vision for the Retail Assist model was, and remains, based upon employing people with right blend of retailing and systems skills and experience, who can understand business requirements and translate them into effective business solutions.  By providing a portfolio of services that can be fully or partly engaged, the company can deliver tailor-made solutions to satisfy specific needs.   In 2007 the Merret supply chain ERP solution was acquired from Grantfort Computer Systems.

Alan remains hands-on, closely involved with client accounts and overseeing business development.  The breadth of his experience has enabled him to write extensively for the retail technology press.
alan.morris@retail-assist.com

Gary Broughton

Gary Broughton, Professional Services Director, is the second of the company’s founders.  He brought to the business a wealth of experience in the retail industry, gained in front-line roles.  He started his career in store management with the Sears Group (UK), becoming the youngest Store Manager of Foster’s Menswear at the age of 17.  He subsequently took professional qualifications in Human Resources and Training and then worked in Training roles within retail.

In 1990, Gary became a freelance Consultant/Project Manager, specialising in store systems and their supporting networked services.  In 1995, he formed Compass Retail Associates with Alan Morris, and was instrumental in developing the business into Retail Assist in 1999.

Gary has been responsible for managing the company’s client-based projects over the past 10 years.  More recently, he was appointed to the position of Professional Services Director covering Retail Consultancy, Project Services and Managed Solutions.  His responsibility is to provide retailers with a complete, cost-effective, one-stop resource for their retail-essential technology and processes.

Under the Managed Solutions banner, Gary and his team bring together hardware, retail software and services in a single easy-to-access SaaS package as an affordable revenue-based offering.  Designed for all size of retailer, Managed Solutions offer the advantages of applications and service levels usually only experienced by large organisations.
gary.broughton@retail-assist.com

Nigel Illingworth

The third co-founder of Retail Assist is Nigel Illingworth, Product Director.  Nigel is also responsible for the development of the Merret supply chain ERP solution.  He has an impressive IT background that comes from having held a number of senior roles within blue-chip companies such as Ladbrokes, HSBC and Syntex Pharmaceuticals.

In 1988, Nigel founded his own business, Grantfort Computer Systems (GCS) which provided solutions for the retail sector, developing products for Help Desk, Report Management, Export Shipping Documentation, Mobile Data Terminal Messaging and Merchandising.

Successive years saw him supporting the creation of Retail Assist, whilst maintaining the GCS business.  The two businesses were highly complementary and frequently collaborated in retail client accounts.  During this time, constant development took place on the Merret product, expanding it to become an award-winning, integrated supply chain ERP solution.

Nigel has become a leading commentator on supply chain technology.  This, combined with his technical expertise, made his appointment as Product Director a natural one when Merret and Retail Assist came together in 2007.

Today, Nigel drives the direction and development of the Merret technology and is responsible for partner relationships, such as with BOARD and with Microsoft, which have seen Business Intelligence & Corporate Performance Management functionality built into the product together with its extension to the Microsoft .NET environment.
nigel.illingworth@retail-assist.com

Dan Smith

Dan Smith, Managed Services Director, joined the Board of Retail Assist in 2004, bringing with him more than 20 years’ experience in multi-site manufacturing and retail support.  Fifteen years had been spent in IT project management, outsourcing, application development and service delivery on a 24x7 basis across international boundaries.

An MBA graduate of Henley Management College, Dan was awarded the Henley Prize for Excellence in his graduate year.  The major part of Dan’s career has been spent within the Courtaulds/Azko Nobel Groups where he created the UK Service Centre that became the first business worldwide to achieve ISO9000/20000 and BS7799 (Information Security) standards.

His wide-ranging responsibilities at Retail Assist include Help Desk and Applications Support Services, Store Services, Technical Services, Hosting, Disaster Recovery and the expanding Data Centre operations.  He manages the delivery of these shared services to a growing client base. 

Dan was instrumental in the company becoming ISO20000-accredited; the first retail-only solutions and services provider in the UK to achieve this, and in the development and management of processes which have seen Retail Assist grow in stature and reputation over recent years.
dan.smith@retail-assist.com

Tim Moxon

Prior to joining Retail Assist in 2004 as Finance Director, Tim had been providing the company with property consultancy and had managed the acquisition of its new Nottingham headquarters.

Tim’s earlier career had spanned a number of finance positions within the Boots Company Plc.  Most notably, he became Financial Controller of the prescription pharmaceuticals subsidiary, Boots Pharmaceuticals, before playing a significant role in preparing what was a £500 million worldwide turnover business for sale to BASF in 1995.  Tim subsequently joined BASF to manage their UK property and insurance portfolio.

Tim has brought an impressive range of skills and experience to Retail Assist, where he is now responsible for all the corporate and financial elements of the business.
tim.moxon@retail-assist.com