17) Andrew Woolfenden

Title: UK distribution director, Tesco

There are fewer more high-profile, and demanding, jobs in road transport and logistics than running the in-house operations of (still) Britain’s biggest retailer.

Tesco has had a rough 18-months, posting its worst set of annual results and a pre-tax loss of £6.38bn in February. Much-hand wringing and soul searching ensued, as the retailer looked to put itself back on the right track. A few months later, the incumbent to this position – Alex Laffey – left to become the chief executive of Eddie Stobart Logistics leaving Woolfenden the man for the job.

He’s been at Tesco for a while, spending a year-and-a-half as retail director, three years as operations director (extras) and three years as distribution director of fresh and frozen foods (to name but three positions). He’s in charge of a division of Tesco that had a turnover of £1.7bn at the end of February 2015, employs 12,247 people and has a remit of delivering significant cost savings throughout the entirety of Tesco’s supply chain.

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