Ex-student rewarded for rapid rise in retail industry

A former student on the College's BA (Hons) Food and Retail course has won a top award in recognition of his rapid progress up the career ladder with Debenhams in Ireland.

Philip Rowden, who graduated from the course in 2003, has landed one of this year's Acorn Awards, after being nominated by his regional director for achieving the fastest promotion ever within the company.

Candidates have to be nominated by their managers from any organisation within the hospitality and catering industry. Thousands of applications are processed each year, out of which just 30 young managers under the age of 30 are selected to receive awards.

Whilst studying at UCB, Phil completed a year's placement at the M40 Warwick service station and subsequently produced his dissertation on the implementation of the Servqual service quality framework in relation to Coffee Primo.

Philip started with Debenhams as a graduate manager in Merry Hill, and within 12 months had been promoted to the regional team in Dublin. He now has responsibility for 17 stores across Ireland as Senior Food Service Sales Manager and is earning over £30,000, plus car and benefits.

Philip reports to the Senior Store Manager and the Regional Director and has responsibility for Catering Managers at each of his 17 stores. These include outlets such as Cork, which is bigger than the company's Oxford Street store and has a budget of £2.5 million.

He has also been instrumental in the integration and restructuring of Debenhams as a result of their takeover of nine Roaches stores in Ireland, which has involved difficult issues with redundancies, union negotiation and strategy delivery. His responsibilities include budget achievement, product development and training, as well as liaising with Human Resources.

Philip said: "The practical skills I developed at the College have been a unique selling point within the industry.

"My confidence when delivering presentations, particularly those with complex themes or intricate detail, requiring skilful delivery, has held me in good stead for both my promotions and for my successful attainment of this award."