The Board of the Automatic Vending Association has announced that David Llewellyn is to be its new Chief Executive. David will take over from the current CEO Jonathan Hart, who leaves the organisation on 6 April.
The Automatic Vending Association has been gathering the views of its members.
Over the last few months, the Board has been gathering the views of its members about the direction and aims of the AVA to help formulate a coherent strategy. Some changes have already been signalled: the upgrading of the Regional Meetings into events hosted by members around the UK; the announcement of an AVEX-style celebration of 90 years of the AVA in 2019; and the freezing of member’s subscriptions for 2018.
David will be leaving his current role as Sales Director Europe for Seaga Manufacturing during March and will be stepping down from his role as Chair of the AVA. He will be working alongside Jonathan until his departure to ensure a smooth handover. David brings a wealth of vending and business knowledge to the role having been involved in the vending business for over 23 years. He has been involved in all aspects of vending: as a supplier of ingredients and equipment with Nestlé & MultiSnack; as a national operator through his own company; and also, since 2010, as a Vending Equipment supplier through Seaga Manufacturing Inc.
An opportunity to re-locate
The news coincides with the announcement that the AVA’s premises are to be sold-off for re-development. Whilst this is bad news for locally based staff, it’s given the Automatic Vending Association an opportunity to re-locate to an area with a readily available workforce, easy transport links and availability of low cost office space. Consequently, the AVA will move to Leeds later in the year.
‘I’d like to thank Jonathan Hart for his sterling work at the AVA during some very challenging circumstances and I am looking forward to working with him to create a seamless handover”, David Llewellyn told PV. ‘Taking on this role is a great opportunity for me to get more deeply involved with the AVA and its members. The organisation needs to change if it is to advance the cause of vending in the UK and the interests of its members, so I’m faced with an exciting and exhilarating prospect. It’s the perfect opportunity to engage with AVA members whilst driving the relevance of the AVA ‘badge’ with End Users and Specifiers.’
Change always creates challenges and opportunities
The AVA’s Deputy Chair Graham Kingaby agreed: ‘Change always creates challenges and opportunities, but I know I speak on behalf of the AVA Board in welcoming David’s appointment and in offering our full support as he builds on Jonathan’s work and helps prepare the Automatic Vending Association for a successful future.’
COMMENT
There’s no doubt about it: the appointment of David Llewellyn to the AVA’s top job is a very, very good thing for the vending industry. Here’s a man who knows the business – and pretty much everybody in it – inside out and back-to-front. He’s universally respected and – just as important in the context of this role – universally liked. He’s a diplomat with a twinkle in his eye; an advocate who doesn’t take himself too seriously. He’s ideally placed to take the disparate strands of the UK industry in hand, to weave them together and to make them stronger. Whilst the AVA’s departure from High Wycombe is bad news for local staff, its arrival in Leeds will give the organisation the geographical centrality it’s never had; whilst London, (and for that matter Edinburgh), is just a couple of hours away via the East Coast main line. The Times They Are A Changin’, that’s for sure – and from our PV perspective, they’re a changin’ for the better.
