PEOPLE
The future is looking bright as WE-EF welcomes Jonathan Cleland
Words by: Elise Blight
On Monday 16th November, 2020, Jonathan Cleland joined the WE-EF family as Head Of Region Australia and New Zealand (Managing Director).
Commencing at an exciting time, Jonathan experienced a busy first week full of inductions with the team. As we start to emerge from lockdown and plan the year ahead, Jonathan has been quickly thrust into budget and planning sessions as we pave our road into what we all hope in Victoria and indeed Australia will be our covid-normal for 2021.
After his first week, Jonathan, says he has received a warm welcome and that “it’s been super busy and very positive. I have met and talked to many great people, passionate, full of knowledge and ready to serve our clients”.
An experienced and successful leader, Jonathan brings over 20 years’ experience driving premium brands in B2B/B2C businesses across Australia and New Zealand in the high end furniture, kitchen and bathroom industries and working mainly through Designer specification. Most recently, in a contract role for Great Dane and previously 11 years in General Management at Rogerseller. Jonathan offers a strong background spanning across sales, marketing, project management, systems and process, finance, supply chain management, operations and logistics and light manufacturing.
“I have met and talked to many great people, passionate, full of knowledge and ready to serve our clients.”
Currently living in Melbourne not far from our Braeside head office, Jonathan has spent periods of time throughout his career living and working in Wellington, New Zealand and in Sydney, and Brisbane so he knows both the Australian and New Zealand regions well.
In coming on board, Jonathan’s focus is on “driving growth through development of the sales and marketing capabilities of the business and nurturing the WE-EF team”. He is passionate about delivering improved organisational fiscal performance and a vibrant and positive business culture.
In his personal life, Jonathan enjoys spending quality time with his wife Natalie and teenage son Cooper and has a broad range of hobbies; tennis, snowboarding, learning to fly a helicopter and he has also recently resumed the hobby of downhill mountain biking (stay safe please!)
Jonathan will be spending time in the coming weeks and indeed months to develop his understanding of the business, which will involve meeting with all Team members and our Sales Partners to ascertain insights and opportunities.
As the borders begin to open across the country, just prior to Christmas, Jonathan is looking forward to visiting our Sales Partners together with Head of Sales Andy Spivey, Head of Operations Mark Pipunic and Marketing Manager Elise Blight. Where physical visits are still not possible, virtual meetings will be arranged.
