Rob Nelson to become Harvey Norman proprietor again.

Harvey Norman has announced a reshuffle within its head office and proprietor teams with current General Manager – AV, Rob Nelson, confirmed as the new proprietor of the Castle Hill store in Sydney.

This is not Nelson’s first stint as a Harvey Norman proprietor. Prior to joining the Harvey Norman head office as General Manager – AV, Nelson was the initial proprietor of the Harvey Norman store at Martin Place in Sydney’s CBD after joining the retailer from many years in sales roles at Sony Australia.

In an exclusive interview with Appliance Retailer, Harvey Norman executive director, David Ackery, confirmed that Nelson would be moving to the Castle Hill store on 1 August 2017, which was triggered by a re-shuffle elsewhere in the business.

“Our Cairns franchisee, Roger Flegg has decided to retire,” Ackery told Appliance Retailer.

“Our current proprietor at Castle Hill, Brian Nicholson, who came to Australia after being a manager in our Irish business always had a dream to live in North Queensland, and with Roger retiring, Brian applied and was successful to take over his store.

L to R: Harvey Norman CEO, Katie Page, Harvey Norman executive director, David Ackery and newly appointed Harvey Norman Castle Hill proprietor, Rob Nelson

“This left a vacancy at Castle Hill in Sydney and Rob Nelson has been speaking to me for some time now about an opportunity if the right franchise became available. He too put his hand up and will be the new proprietor at the Castle Hill store.

“We received a number of applications for Rob’s job and we have announced that Ajay Calpakam will take over this role. Ajay has been a Harvey Norman proprietor for almost 20 years, commencing in November 1997 after two and a half years as a Store Manager from 1995 to 1997.

“We interviewed internally and externally for the position and we know that Ajay will be very good in the role. He is a long term Harvey Norman employee and understands the industry and the challenges that are currently facing the business as well as into the future. Over the last 20 years he has shown that he is a very smart businessman,” Ackery said.

Appliance Retailer understands that Calpakam has most recently been a proprietor at the Mount Barker store in South Australia, and prior to this was at the Oxley store in Brisbane and has also been a proprietor at the Harvey Norman store at Frankston.