Learn more about the award-winning executive team behind Refresh
An experienced senior management executive with over twelve years’ experience at Board of Directors level and 25 years’ retail experience, Lal has a track record of leadership, strategic vision and outcome-focused performance. Before joining Refresh, he was Country Business Manager (MD equivalent) for Purina, one of Nestle's Global businesses in 3 different countries (New Zealand, Australia and South Africa) and has been directly responsible for Finance, Supply Chain, HR, Marketing, Retail Sales (FMCG), Specialty and Rural Channel sales and marketing, Manufacturing and Category Management.
Chris has a wealth of marketing and management experience in the New Zealand, Australian and United Kingdom construction industries. Formerly the Marketing Director at Winstone Wallboards, Chris transformed a staid manufacturer into an award-winning brand (‘Gib’). During his time at Winstone Wallboards, he set up a new franchise operation that led in their segment. After his role at Winstone Wallboards, Chris became the Head of Marketing for Fletcher Building, a significant construction manufacturer in New Zealand. Following this, he established Traffic, the leading research and strategy company in the building industry in New Zealand and won multiple awards for his work. Now as a founder of Refresh, Chris and the team are revolutionising the renovation segment.
Jon started his marketing career at Unisys, a global IT services firm. Throughout his time at Unisys, he learnt a lot about the internet and integrated that into his marketing thinking. “But I’d always wanted to set up my own companies,” he says. I joined Chris and Barry with Traffic in 2003. “We started Refresh after identifying a real and globally-massive market need: better renovation experiences and information. But we didn’t want to be just another building company.” “We knew that, if we wanted to be the best renovation specialists in the market, we needed to create great valuable content that would really help a renovator who’s researching their renovation options online, then close the loop by carrying out the renovations for them.”
Boasting a Masters degree from the exclusive Royal College of Art in London and experience working with some of the biggest international companies, including Nestlé, Procter and Gamble and Unilever, Barry has an extensive brand and design background that he’s applied to the Refresh brand. “I’ve spent much of my professional life developing an understanding of how brands work,” he says. “As well as dealing with some of the world’s leading brands, I worked under Terrance Conran, one of the UK’s leading design gurus. My background is technically graphic design, but most of the projects I’ve worked on are much broader than that. I’ve worked on packaging, interior design, product design and corporate design. And I’ve been able to utilise all those skills and experience within the framework of the Refresh brand.”
All values are in NZD