New director of UK consumer operations

Starting his career ‘on the tools’, Darryl didn’t have the traditional entry into management. “I originally worked as a joiner and I think this has been the anchor across everything I do. I derive a lot of my work ethic from those early days.” This means Darryl has a practical understanding of both quality and attention to detail.

The director of UK consumer operations role is cross-functional; from customer communication to building and installation and after-sales care. He is ultimately responsible for an extensive field-based team as well as customer-facing staff at the Stiltz head office at Pensnett Estate, Kingswinford. Straddling management and construction, Darryl’s experience is perfect to answer this brief and the building and installation teams now have someone else who speaks the same ‘technical language’ they do.

Darryl’s journey towards Stiltz has seen him completing a business degree after which he moved into a management position at Space4, the manufacturing division of Persimmon. In his six years there, he progressed to operations manager. His next role was head of operations at BD Living before a life change prompted him to head out to Las Vegas and complete a business masters. An unorthodox step, but one that gave him the opportunity to reset and regroup.

Armed with newly-acquired skills he returned to the UK to work at Alno Kitchens as operations director following this with becoming managing director at Stokes Kitchens, where he stayed for five years. The way in which Darryl balances business growth while building great employee relationships appealed Stiltz as it closely matches the company’s own management vision.

“I’ll be looking at how the business operates on a granular level, making sure we’re working smarter for our customers,” he explains. Creating a connection between the Board and the Field Teams by strengthening lines of communications is really important. It helps to empower people, especially as the business continues to grow and structures formalise. The results will obviously be measured against service satisfaction and the bottom line," he said.

His initial brief from chief executive Mike Lord has been to fully immerse himself in the business, soak up the culture with no immediate responsibilities except to visit sites and engage with the build teams and customers nationally.