1. What are the most impactful changes you’ve made to build agility and resilience into your operating model?

The most impactful changes implemented to enhance our operating model centre on three pillars: culture, assets, and partnerships. We prioritised embedding a culture of agility and continuous improvement within our teams. Strategically, we have successfully moved away from an over-reliance on fixed assets, favouring a flexible, scalable infrastructure. This is complemented by robust alliances with partners who share our core values and commitment to rapid market response. This strategy is fundamental to our ability to adapt quickly and sustain resilience against economic volatility.

2. ⁠How do you deliver customer value across different markets while balancing global consistency with local expectations and compliance?

Our operational mandate is straightforward: think global, act local. Global consistency is maintained through rigorous brand guidelines, which protect our intellectual property and ensure a uniform worldwide brand message. However, market success is determined by our ability to win locally. We allocate specific resources and processes to capture granular local insight. This allows us to precisely tailor our offering, whether through bespoke product adaptations for regional tastes and regulatory compliance, or by customising pricing and promotional strategies. This dual focus ensures brand integrity while maximising commercial relevance.

3. ⁠Where is Perry Ellis exploring AI or emerging tech to improve forecasting, inventory or customer experience, and how are you managing the risks?

We regard AI as a critical strategic enabler for accelerating growth and substantially increasing productivity. We have established a dedicated global AI working team, championed by a Board-level sponsor, to oversee its systematic adoption. In the volatile sport and fashion sector, precise, real-time analysis of demand is crucial. We utilise AI-driven systems to enhance forecasting and in-time analytics, thereby mitigating risk. This allows us to sharply reduce costs associated with warehousing, distribution, and, most importantly, the cash tied up in holding inventory. This disciplined use of technology is key to maintaining a highly efficient supply chain.

4. ⁠What’s your approach to innovation in a risk-conscious industry, and where are you seeing the highest ROI across people, product or platform?

In our industry, product remains paramount. Innovation and newness are essential drivers of profitable growth and consumer engagement; failure to innovate results in rapid commoditisation. We maintain strategic investment across the three 'P's. For people, our commitment to continuous professional development and a 'promote from within' policy cultivates talent and loyalty. For product, we invest heavily in insight, elevation, and powerful storytelling. Critically, our highest Return on Investment (ROI) from an EBITDA perspective has been derived from investment in our platform. Post-Brexit, this structural investment delivered strong double-digit EBITDA growth from modest single-digit revenue growth, validating the efficacy of a robust operational foundation.

5. ⁠What does success look like for you over the next three years, and how will you measure it across growth, profitability and culture?

Success over the next three years involves the sustained growth and health of both our brands globally and our overall organisation. Brand health is measured rigorously against measurable scorecards integrated into our country and brand plans. Gauging organisational health is less quantitative, yet essential; it requires leaders to be present, observant, and truly listen to their teams; the answers are always available internally. We are driving multiple work streams dedicated to improving mental health, refining our ways of working, and building effective teams to empower our staff. A healthy organisation is the definitive prerequisite for sustainable profitability and growth.

6. ⁠What’s one emerging trend or metric you believe leaders should pay more attention to and why?

While the foundational principle of knowing your customer remains timeless, the single most critical emerging factor is the rate of technological acceleration, specifically AI. This requires adaptive leadership. Leaders must actively promote and demonstrate a culture of continuous learning, mandating upskilling and reskilling across the workforce to remain competitive. Complacency in this area is a direct route to market irrelevance.

7. ⁠What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received that still shapes how you lead and drive innovation today?

The principle that consistently shapes my leadership and approach to innovation is the proverb: you reap what you sow. Early in my career, this guided my conduct and my approach to sustainable growth. Today, it serves as the essential framework for advancement: unless you sow, you cannot reap.