The Vegan Kind has appointed former Holland & Barrett CEO Tony Buffin as its new chairman.
Buffin is joining the plant-based grocer this month, just over a year after quitting H&B over a failure to agree on a long-term incentive plan with its owner L1 Retail.
He was the CEO of the health & wellness retailer for a little more than a year before stepping down.
“I am absolutely delighted to welcome Tony to Team TVK,” said The Vegan Kind co-founder Scott McCulloch.
“In the short time we have been working together, Tony’s advice and knowledge has been simply invaluable.
“The Vegan Kind has evolved so much as a company in the last 18 months, and starting 2022 with Tony’s board-level input on all the strategic changes we have in our pipeline is both humbling and exciting in equal measure.”
Buffin is currently CEO and founder of Tecsa, a digital ecosystem and analytics software development business that provides services to retailers around the globe.
He is also chairman of leading specialist distributor of plumbing, heating, and bathroom products, Highbourne Group. Prior to his current positions, he held a number of senior management roles across retail, including COO of Travis Perkins.
The Vegan Kind, which was founded in 2013 by Karris and Scott McCulloch, said Buffin’s expertise in digital and data transformation would help it scale its operations quicker.
In 2020, the specialist retailer moved to a larger head office in Glasgow. And last year, it raised £3.5m in a Series A funding round to help accelerate its growth strategy.
Buffin said: “I am delighted to be joining The Vegan Kind to help Scott, Karris and the entire team continue to build their wonderful business.
“Their mission is to make it easy for everyone to buy exciting plant-based food at affordable prices and help us all to live healthier.
“The switch to plant-based diets is vital to avoid the worst impacts of climate change so it’s truly inspiring to be helping consumers be kinder to themselves and to the planet at the same time.”
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