A closer look at the work behind the headline numbers — leading a €0.5Bn category at Selecta, and the negotiation craft built through Harvard and Michigan.
As Group Category Leader for Hot Drinks at Selecta — Europe's largest route-based unattended retail and coffee services group — I owned the commercial and financial performance of a €0.5Bn category spanning 14 European markets. The role sat at the intersection of procurement, category strategy and P&L ownership, reporting into senior leadership in a private-equity-backed environment where margin and cash discipline were under constant scrutiny.
My defining project was developing and rolling out the "One Selecta Coffee Strategy" — moving 14 historically independent markets toward a single, coherent coffee approach. Rather than 14 separate sourcing and assortment decisions, the strategy aligned the group around shared supplier relationships, a rationalised portfolio and consistent commercial logic, designed to lift both revenue and gross margin.
I negotiated and managed contracts with the category's most important partners — including Nestlé Professional, Lavazza and Segafredo. These were high-stakes, multi-market agreements where small movements in price, terms or volume commitments translated directly into millions of euros of margin. Managing these relationships meant balancing tough commercial outcomes with partnerships strong enough to last.
Alongside the strategy, I drove a range of projects focused on pricing and margin optimisation, and provided hands-on commercial support to local markets to help them stay competitive and grow. The thread running through all of it: protect and expand margin without losing share.
€0.5Bn category, 14 European markets
Nestlé Professional, Lavazza, Segafredo & more
Senior leadership, PE-backed environment
Earlier Selecta roles also include Brands & Concepts Manager (Selecta Netherlands) and Project Manager (Selecta UK), giving me both group-level and local-market perspective.
The deal-making I did at Selecta is grounded in formal negotiation training from two of the most respected programmes in the field. Together they cover both sides of the discipline: the frameworks for structuring a negotiation, and the tactics for creating and claiming value within it.
Harvard Business School Online
Harvard's programme focuses on the dynamic between creating value (growing the pie) and claiming value (securing your share), preparing systematically, using objective decision tools, and closing deals that hold up. It sharpened how I prepare for and run complex, multi-stakeholder commercial negotiations.
University of Michigan
Michigan's course laid the foundations: the four key stages of negotiation — prepare, exchange information, bargain, and close — plus how to use leverage, BATNA and psychology to reach agreement. It's the structured base I've applied and refined on every deal since.
Whether it's a procurement challenge, a supplier negotiation, or a commercial project — let's talk about what you need.
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