John Thompson

WORK HISTORY

SKILLS

ABOUT JOHN THOMPSON

With over 30 years of global leadership in operational excellence and supply chain transformation across highly regulated FMCG sectors - including Beauty, Personal Care, Medical Devices, and Food - I consistently deliver scalable, sustainable growth.My career began with blue-chip multinationals such as Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive, and Estée Lauder, providing a solid operational foundation. For the past 15 years, I have led transformational change in private equity-backed and entrepreneur-led SMEs, driving organic growth, M&A, business turnarounds, and successful exits.I specialise in full P&L ownership and transformational leadership, achieving up to 4x EBITDA growth, reducing inventory by 60%, and delivering over 50% cost savings through data-driven execution, ERP integration, and world-class S & OP frameworks.Core Expertise Includes:End-to-end Supply Chain Management: S & OP leadership, demand planning, global sourcing, vendor managementERP & WMS Systems: SAP, Oracle NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics, Sage X3Manufacturing & Contract Manufacturing: Asia, EU, UK sourcing strategiesWarehousing, 3PL transitions, and logistics optimisationRegulatory Compliance, QA/QC, and ESG implementationWorking Capital Optimisation, inventory reduction, COGs and labour cost reductionCustomer Service Improvement, OTIF achievement of 99%+M&A integrations, operational turnarounds, and PE exit enablementI have successfully led and scaled cross-functional teams of 150+ across the UK, EU, Asia, EMEA, and US. Known for a hands-on, commercially focused, and data-led leadership style, I align operational capability with ambitious growth strategies, accelerating NPD and enabling international expansion. I apply operational rigour and strategic insight to help businesses scale sustainably and profitably.