Part-time & Interim Commercial Director
Making sustainability commercially viable and valuable for SMEs.
1–3 days a week | Berkshire, Surrey & London
What I bring
I have spent more than 25 years in commercial leadership, including senior roles at BBC Worldwide and Universal Pictures, and hands-on Managing Director experience running £2m–£10m businesses (Archant Dialogue and Ultima Media).
I've run businesses with my own P&L accountability. I know how to make commercial decisions when real budgets, margins, and customer relationships are at stake.
Since 2022, I’ve focused heavily on practical sustainability. I bridge the gap between commercial performance and environmental responsibility either as a Commercial Director within a sustainability business, or leading commercial strategy and sustainability in an established SME.
How I work
I focus on how a business actually makes its money, where value is lost, and how sustainability demands affect commercial reality:
Where do we make money, and where are we losing margin?
Is our proposition clear, credible, and competitive?
Which customers, markets, and revenue opportunities should we prioritise?
How do we turn sustainability requirements from a cost into a commercial advantage?
What should we stop doing, change, or build?
I work with the leadership team to turn the answers into practical priorities and delivery.
Track Record & Deliverables
Commercial growth: Led UK distribution and marketing at Universal Pictures to 34% growth (£150m revenue) and a 41% contribution improvement across a £15m+ budget.
Turnaround and margin: Took Archant Dialogue to c.£6m turnover and a £900k margin improvement, with 10% organic growth while retaining key clients.
Business transformation: Moved Ultima Media, a £7m legacy business, into digital, data and custom content, generating 6,000 new registrations and profitable new revenue lines.
Operational savings: Audited supplier contracts for over £12m in savings across print, IT, CRM, marketing and business services. Built financial dashboards to show teams where cash and profit were actually made.
Sustainability as a commercial lever: Helped retain contracts for Acosta Europe through competitive tenders, delivered commercial ESG training to 100+ employees, built internal ESG capability and a supply-chain framework at Financial Services PLC, and turned an NHS hospice's carbon audit into actionable renewables recommendations.
Working in sustainability
Since 2022, I’ve focused on the commercial reality of sustainability: customer procurement requirements, tender defence, ESG in the supply chain and practical business cases for renewables and decarbonisation.
Future-Fit Business Benchmark Accredited Advisor
Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)
Course Director, CIM Sustainability & Marketing
Accredited Carbon Literacy Facilitator
Corporate Governance Institute (Board Oversight & ESG Governance)
MBA | Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM)
“Gavin combines commercial thinking with practical sustainability expertise. He focuses on what sustainability means in real business terms rather than theory or ESG reporting.
He provided clear, actionable advice and a coaching style that helped us rethink how we approached the challenges we were facing.
He also delivered a written strategy document that gave us a practical foundation and pathway for moving forward.It was a strong mix of commercial clarity, practical sustainability insight and hands-on support.”
-- Nick Payne, Managing Director SA Brain
What clients say
I've worked with Gavin for the past two and a half years and have found him to be a truly inspirational leader. His expertise in running businesses (and turning them around!) is second to none. I have learned more from him about business strategy, commercial awareness and people management in the past two years than I have during my entire 17-year career in publishing. Not just a great leader but mentor and businessman,
-- Zoe Francis-Cox, CEO Dialogue (formerly Archant Dialogue)
“What really sets Gavin apart is how well he gets both the sustainability world and the commercial one. That mix meant we ended up with a strategy that wasn’t just ‘nice to have’ but something people could get behind and deliver. He brought our teams along for the ride and helped us talk to clients about it in a way that felt honest, inspiring, and practical.
He made a big difference to our journey. I’m really glad we had him on board and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend him to anyone looking to do sustainability properly."
-- Group Managing Director, Retail Marketing & Logistics Company
"Gavin facilitated a full-day sustainability session for a room of people from the same sector but with very different commercial priorities. He managed something genuinely difficult - bridging real commercial pressures with genuine sustainability ambition, without making either feel like a compromise.
His candour, warmth and depth of experience created an environment where people felt comfortable being honest and had their thinking genuinely challenged. Lively, enjoyable and substantive - a rare combination.
If you're looking for a facilitator who can hold a complex room and leave people energised, I'd recommend Gavin without hesitation."
-- Cheryl Chung, Corporate & Government Affairs
About me.
I'm a commercial director and former managing director with more than 25 years' experience in media and marketing, and a focus on sustainability since 2022. I've worked at BBC Worldwide and Universal Pictures, and run B2B media and marketing businesses.
I've worked on the decisions that shape how a business performs: what it offers, how it positions itself, where it makes money, and when to change. I look past the story a business tells about itself to see what's really happening, then work with people to decide what to do next.
I'm based in Berkshire and work with businesses across Berkshire, Surrey and London.
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