Gary spent the first 15 years of his career in Retail Management, working for a number of companies across the south of England and eventually joined Waitrose, part of the John Lewis Partnership. After 4 years working as a Manager in the branches, he then moved into Head Office at Bracknell as a Construction Project Manager responsible for extensions and refurbishments. Over time, the scope of his work expanded to include Department Stores and groups of retail acquisitions. This work involved the conversion of purchased retail units in very short time frames.
After 15 years of this type of work, Gary was then appointed as Head of Facilities reporting to the Director of Construction. His role involved working across both Divisions, to manage all the offices and associated services, for both John Lewis and Group based in Victoria and Waitrose based in Bracknell. In total the offices accommodated around 6,000 people in 9 buildings.
After retiring in 2016, Gary worked as a freelance Building Consultant for a further 3 years on a variety of projects. During his career he has worked in all aspects of the Development, Planning and Construction of buildings and had dealings with a large number of Local Authorities, Consultants and Utility Companies.
Doing his time working for the John Lewis Partnership , Gary also served as a Director on the Board of the Victoria BID (Business Improvement District) and a Director of a property management company which was responsible for part of the Southern Trading Estate in Bracknell.
Prior to becoming a councillor, he worked as a member of the Ruscombe Neighbourhood Plan Group and enjoyed this opportunity to use the knowledge he had gained during his working life for the benefit of the Parish in developing the plan. Alongside many residents of Ruscombe, he came to appreciate the unique nature of this area and realises that although there will always be a need for change in the future; it is important that it is done in a way that enhances the Parish and does not detract from it.
Gary is currently Chair of Planning and has held this post for 5+ years.