Karl Headleand

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT KARL HEADLEAND

I’ve spent 20 years working inside complex, operational businesses rather than advising them from the outside. Factories, warehouses, legacy systems, acquisitions mid-flight, and the occasional full-blown crisis.My career has mostly been about making complex operations actually work: bringing order to chaos without losing pace, and building systems and teams that scale without breaking. The day job and the transformation programme run at the same time whether you like it or not, so you learn to manage both.Right now I sit on the board of a multi-brand retail and manufacturing group, leading group operations, technology and transformation. Since 2021 that’s meant integrating several acquisitions and replatforming the whole group onto a single technology stack, while the business keeps trading.The group comprises Celtic & Co, Frugi, Turtle Doves and Kettlewell Colours, built around ethically sourced, natural and sustainable British fashion, operating a predominantly direct-to-consumer, digitally native model. Celtic & Co is a Cornwall-based retailer of natural and sustainable knitwear, footwear and outerwear, with manufacturing rooted in the UK. Turtle Doves creates upcycled garments and accessories from post-consumer Cashmere waste, also manufactured in the UK, and is best known for its recycled cashmere gloves. Frugi was acquired via administration, with operations relocated to our Cornwall headquarters saving a significant number of local jobs. Kettlewell Colours is the market leader in colour analysis and brought a loyal, fast-growing customer base into the group.Earlier in my career I helped steer a business through PE exit, administration and full restructure, then back to profit and growth within two years. That period shaped how I think about cash, risk and execution more than anything else.I’m most useful when the problem is genuinely complex: operationally, technically, or both. Translating that complexity into something the board can act on, and something the delivery team can actually execute, is where most of my time goes.My background spans group operations, M&A integration, platform transformation, warehousing and logistics, manufacturing, multi-channel commerce, facilities and property management, contract and supplier governance, health and safety, and building the kind of operational control that holds up under pressure.