Meet our new team member, John Bailey, who has joined our Distribution Team. John has over thirty years of experience in the financial services sector, with a particular focus on financial planning.

We spoke to John about his new role with Greenman, his views on the changing economic landscape, its impacts on the market, and his outlook on the investment market and the grocery industry in 2024.

John, can you start by telling us a little bit about your career path before coming to Greenman and some lessons you learned along the way?

I’ve worked as a Financial Consultant in various organisations and as a Development Manager in Financial Services. Over the last thirty years, I have learned you need to have a sales strategy in place when it comes to business. An activity diary with pre-arranged meetings and being someone who adds value to broker meetings is essential. I have learned over the years to be an active listener and ask more questions.

What are your main priorities and goals in your new role?

Coming into a well established team I believe my main priorities will be to maintain and develop existing relationships. I’ll be targeting to present the current Greenman message showing the future plans for Greenman OPEN to brokers in my area and hopefully increase the level of support for the fund.

What are the challenges facing the investment industry for 2023?

Currently, I believe high interest rates, high inflation and performance across asset classes driven by economic and industry pressures are having the biggest impacts on the investment industry.

Looking ahead, what do you think will be the most important trends shaping the grocery retail industry in the coming one to three years?

There are a number of different trends here but two I would highlight are, consumer interest around healthier food; awareness of what’s going into our bodies. And from a sustainable perspective, food waste and renewable energy; how is food manufactured, what is the grocery industry doing to help the environment and climate goals.