Commercial Services

Commercial Services

Commercial Services Information Pack

Introduction to MRG Commercial Services Practice

• 50% of senior leadership placements at MRG are female. • 77% of candidates that MRG place with Higher Education Institutions in Commercial Services have come from outside universities. • On average, 20% of university income comes from commercial services. • 73% manage all catering in-house.

• 71% of new initiatives involve coffee shops. • £238 the average annual spend per student.

* These facts are based on a recent TUCO Report

Strategic Appointments University of Exeter- Director of Commercial, Residential and Campus Services

MRG were mandated by The University of Exeter to conduct a search on their behalf for a Director of Commercial, Residential and Campus Services. This nationwide search

took place across a myriad of sectors, starting with other higher education institutions and moving into other transferrable sectors such as Hospitality, Leisure

and Healthcare. After presenting a shortlist of 10 candidates, 6 were interviewed and the role was offered do a Divisional Director at an internationally

renowned service provider. The candidate has made a huge impact on commercial strategy at the university and remains in post over 2 years on.

Catering, Venue Management & Sales Queen Mary’s University London Overview

The Management Recruitment Group are an International Group of Specialist Recruitment Businesses that provides services including Retained Search, Interim Executives and Permanent Recruitment Outsourcing.

The MRG Higher Education Commercial Services team were retained by QMUL to build the commercial services team, providing candidates with detailed briefs and assessing them against agreed criteria. The remit of the Commercial Services team is to drive revenue for the campus and enhance the student experience. A background and understanding of each role is detailed below: A background and understanding of each role is detailed below:

Director of Commercial Services

Head of QM

Head of Hospitality and Catering

Head of Commercial Sales

Venues and Operations

Assistant Director of Commercial Services The remit of the Assistant Director of Commercial Services was to create a commercial strategy covering accommodation, conferencing, events and food and beverage. This business unit is the conduit between the student’s union, academic and professional services. We were briefed to find a strong business leader adept at delivering a cultural change within a complex environment. With a track record of being accountable for commercial viability and service delivery of the commercial services; comprising of catering & hospitality, sales & marketing, and accommodation services. After a national search across higher education, the wider public sector and the private sector, we appointed a former Director of Commercial at Kings College London. They had been instrumental in setting up the conferencing and events business for the Strand campus.

Head of Hospitality and Catering The Head of Hospitality and Catering’s remit was to modernise the catering outlets and hospitality function. Whilst also developing the inhouse team to create a service with exceptional service throughout.

We were briefed to...

We conducted a retained search across London and the South East, and successfully employed a former hospitality lead from Brunel University and the Queens Club.

Head of Commercial Sales The Head of Commercial Sales was needed to develop a conferencing, events and summer business strategy, to drive forward a range of additional income generating activities. We were tasked with seeking an enthusiastic, proactive, entrepreneurial, and commercially minded individual. The candidate would have a proven track record in developing a unique commercial offering and service design, producing and delivering against a detailed marketing and sales strategy. We conducted a wide search across high profile venues, NHS trusts, local government and other HEs. The successful candidate lead the sales at the Hever Castle and had a proven track record of creating a sales function.

Head of QM Venues and Operations The Head of Venues and Operations was needed to manage the strategic leadership of commercial activity and associated income generation across venues and retail outlets. The brief was to focus on candidates with a strong venue management background and good understanding of stakeholder management.

The successful candidate was the General Venues Manager at Hackney Council, and had a demonstrable track record delivering in this area.

Sport University of Birmingham – Director of Sport

With the Commonwealth Games coming to Birmingham in 2022, the Director of Sport post was going to hold major significance for the University of Birmingham who are one of the key partners to the games for accommodation, catering and facilities. On this occasion, the university were keen for us to conduct a nationwide search across the Higher Education Sector to find someone who could hit the ground running, but also had the potential to support with long term strategy for the sporting programme in the city of Birmingham. After a robust interview process, the university hired an Associate Director of Sport from a leading Russell Group university in London.

Events

London Metropolitan University – Events & Hospitality Services Manager

MRG were approached to partner London Metropolitan University to manage the search of 10 roles across their Estates and Facilities Directorate. One of the key posts was the operational lead for the hospitality services and events business area. The post holder for this role would lead on operational strategy and manage a large team whilst overseeing 3rd party catering and facilities relationships. The university wanted us to approach candidates with live entertainment experience, whilst also having a good understanding of leading multi-faceted hospitality departments. With the university less concerned about having HE experience, MRG approached a number of private and public sector candidates in London across a range of hospitality companies.

Our Story The Management Recruitment Group are industry leading search and selection consultancy focusing on a specialised sectors including Higher Education, Local Government, Healthcare Trusts, and Corporate Real Estate. Since our establishment in 2007, MRG have managed over 700 retained campaigns across our primary sector specialism in Higher Education. MRG provide a robust and inclusive search and selection process which has outreach into various useful sectors which provides diverse shortlists for our clients. It is this wide-reaching network that makes our service attractive to our long term partners and sees them use us on a regular basis for mandates in various disciplines. The Commercial Services Practice works across a number of disciplines including Catering, Venues, Events, Retail and Conferencing & Sales. The team have a proven track record working alongside public sector organisations including University College London, University of Leeds, University of Birmingham, Queen Mary University London, University of Exeter and Keele University. The team have also provided consultancy services for leading private sector organisations like Ascot Racecourse, Twickenham Stadium, The Hurlingham Club and Savills.

Our Team

James Gregory – Senior Practice Manager

James leads MRG’s Commercial Services Practice and his specialist area is senior management and director level consultancy services in: Catering, Venues, Events, Retail, Accommodation, Conferencing & Sales. With a 10-year track record recruiting across the consumer sector, James has partnered a myriad of well-known private sector organisations such as Premier Inn, Nando’s, The South Kensington Club, Costa Coffee and Marks & Spencer. Since joining MRG, James has successfully worked alongside industry leading Higher Education Institutions such as UCL, Queen Mary University London and London Metropolitan University. His wide-ranging network of candidates and clients allow him to call on recommendations and referrals across the UK and Ireland in both the public and private sector, leading to diverse shortlists that bring new and emerging talent into the Higher Education Sector.

Hayley Mintern – Business Sector Director MRG’s Living Assets and Commercial Education practices, led by Hayley Mintern specialises in the appointment of mid- senior leaders. We have a specialist team, who solely facilitate appointments within Higher education commercial services and hospitality, Purpose Built Student Accommodation PBSA, Build to Rent and

Senior Living. Hayley personally delivers Senior Management level campaigns across all aspects of Commercial Education and PBSA. Hayley has been with MRG for six years, as part of her earlier career with MRG Hayley worked with the facilities management team working on senior interim assignments across Higher Education. Before joining MRG Hayley worked with the Rugby Football Union delivering high profile events and educational management programmes.

For more information about our Commercial Services Practice, please get in touch with James Gregory.

[email protected] 07966 827 391