www.ceotodaymagazine.com CEO Today United Kingdom Awards 2023 25 job. Working alongside my fellow DPD CEOs – the people who head up our other business units across Europe – has also been a great learning experience. I really enjoy running a UK company that’s part of a much wider global network, backed by investment and expertise from our French parent company, La Poste. Do you have any advice for less experienced managers who might be looking to emulate your success? Stay close to your customers and always be innovating. The next-day parcels sector is only around 50 years old in the UK but its history is littered with companies that are no longer with us. Why? Because they didn’t listen enough to their customers and they failed to innovate. I think this is where DPD has excelled, surging out of the pack in the last decade to become a leader in the home delivery market. We love to wow our customers with great innovations. For example, we were the first to offer home shoppers a service called ‘Predict’ – giving them a one-hour window telling them when their driver would arrive. This was a game-changer in our market because it made online shopping so much more convenient than before. Our award-winning App is also a leader in its class – in fact it has been downloaded by 10 million people and at one stage was trending ahead of Tinder! And the App also includes a ‘Design Space’ where we co-create new ideas and service innovations with thousands of our most engaged customers. At the end of the day, success begins and ends with staying close to the people who pay your wages! the pandemic, but continuing to win new business is no mean feat, as it has meant obtaining ‘Wholesale Distribution Authorisation’ – a government licence to operate in the heavily regulated pharma sector. Meanwhile from an internal perspective, we’ve been working on creating a real listening culture, doing everything we can to make DPD a fulfilling place to work. Equity, Diversity and Inclusion is a topic that’s very close to my heart. And it’s the younger people at DPD who are opening the eyes of senior management to ED&I issues. They’re making us realise how crucial it is to create a culture where everyone feels that they belong and can make a positive contribution. That’s why I’m so keen for a wider variety of voices to be heard. My aim is to create different conversations and opportunities for everyone at DPD. We are incredibly lucky to have such a diverse team and we want to celebrate that and turn it into one of our core strengths. We now have ten volunteer ‘D&I Ambassadors’ across the business who represent a wide spectrum of voices and meet every month to share successes and to maintain momentum with our D&I agenda. So a big part of my role as CEO is to make sure we have an open, diverse and inclusive culture where everyone can flourish. Not least because of the ‘business benefits of belonging’ – when people feel genuinely valued and important, they give you more in terms of discretionary effort, bright ideas and creative problem-solving. And all of that can help DPD remain a leader in its sector. How are you continuing to refine your skills in your role? I’ve been CEO for just over two years now after nearly 28 years in senior sales and customer service roles with DPD. I’m still as excited to work here as I was on my first day with the company, but of course my responsibilities are much broader now. So a key focus has been to deepen my understanding of other key areas of the business – Operations, IT, Finance, HR, Sustainability, Public Affairs, Governance and so on. I’m fortunate to have a really strong Senior Leadership Team heading up each of these areas and I trust them to do a great Elaine Kerr CEO, DPD UK www.dpd.co.uk
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