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Harding+ hires Paul Cunningham as global director of buying

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Paul Cunningham will lead Harding+'s team of buyers in the UK and Miami
Cruise and retail specialist Harding+ has announced the hiring of Paul Cunningham from the UK supermarket Morrisons owned McColl’s chain as its new global director of buying

Cunningham was McColl’s Retail Group commercial director, and before that was Co-op’s director of buying for fresh and chilled Foods, as well as being responsible for the range planning, agriculture and technical teams.

He will lead the recently rebranded Harding+’s team of category buyers in both the UK and Miami, bringing experience of managing large and remote teams, growing and strengthening supplier relationships, and leading projects focused on innovation, merchandising and people development.

Harding+ CEO James Prescott explains ‘Paul’s track record of success, of broad and forward thinking remits and large scale budget responsibilities means he is a great hire to match our ambitions that are only heightened as we move into the Harding+ phase.

‘He fits with our two pronged people strategy that champions internal promotions alongside a mission to hire fresh thinkers from outside the industry to help expand all of our best practice thinking. We will all win at Harding+ with his depth of retail understanding on board.’

Cunningham added,  ‘I’m looking forward now to matching years of high street retail expertise and customer understanding with the ever growing cruise world of specialist thinking.  My mission is to help Harding+ continue to innovate and deepen both partner satisfaction and opportunities for team growth.’

Cunningham will be based at Harding+’s Bristol HQ and will report directly into CCO Matthew Hodges.