As it transitions go-to-market strategy.

Philips sales director for personal health, Peter Bosscher, pictured, will be spearheading the transition of the sales function as the company brings its distribution in-house. “The move to a fully direct model means that we will be scaling up the team quite significantly with the majority of new roles falling under sales and marketing,” he said.

The Australian national sales team now consists of three national key account managers, one national channel development manager, one national retail training program manager and one national field sales manager.

Philips will also add more territory account managers and in-store brand ambassadors to the team. “I am confident that we have a very strong and professional team with a diverse but relevant background to be at their best for our retail partners,” Bosscher said.

National key account managers

Nicole Silvester, pictured, has been appointed national key account manager for extended sales personal health. She joins the company having held similar roles with the Blueprint Group, HiLife Health & Beauty, L’Oreal and a nine year career at British American Tobacco. Silvester holds a Bachelor degree in Business Marketing and Management from the Queensland University of Technology.

She will be joined by recently appointed national key account manager for personal health, Scott Kent, who will be responsible for developing business with Harvey Norman and several other national key accounts. He previously worked in various roles for Electrolux Australia for 15 years, as regional account executive for home products, before he moved into the role of national sales manager for small appliances.

The third national key account manager for personal health is Loretta Fitzgerald who joined Philips in 2015, after having worked in similar roles with Groupe SEB Australia and New Zealand, Jackel Pty Ltd and Mars Australia and New Zealand, Snackfoods Group. Earlier this year, Fitzgerald was acknowledged in a global Philips recognition award along with 50 out of 14,000 employees worldwide as a best performer in customer-facing commercial teams.

National channel development manager

Christophe Rinckenberger has joined Philips as national channel development manager with 15 years’ experience in business development within the consumer goods industry. Most recently, he was at Gibson Innovations, responsible for the sales and marketing strategy for Philips and Onkyo audio in Australia and New Zealand. Before moving to Australia, Christophe gained experience in Europe as international sales manager and Head of EMEA export for Jarden Consumer Solutions (Sunbeam) and Holmes Products (Europe) ltd. Rinckenberger will be responsible for relationship development in the Loyalty, Incentive, Travel, Education, Care and Corporate channels as well in the online channels.

National retail training program manager

Elizabeth Redmond will commence with Philips on 1 May, 2017 as national retail training program manager with six years’ experience as retail trainer within Australia’s small appliances industry. She is currently head of training at De’Longhi, but started her career as home economist / trainer working for Sunbeam. Redmond will be responsible for the development of extensive training programs in order to equip retail partners with the expertise to convert shoppers into Philips customers.

National field sales manager

Nathan Russell who joined Philips in July 2016 as national key account manager, has been appointed to the role of national field sales team manager. He previously worked at Sony Australia for 10 years. In his newly created role, Russell will lead a team of more than 15 territory account managers and over 15 brand ambassadors (employed and third party agents). He will be responsible for initialising and coordinating all Philips efforts in stores to optimise business results.