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Keith Danby takes control at IBS-STL UK
IBS-STL’s Global President Keith Danby has taken back leadership of the UK charity and is ‘deeply embarrassed’ by the shortcomings of STL’s new ordering system in an exclusive interview with Christian Marketplace.
Having announced in November the appointment of two former Zondervan executives, Doug Lockhart and Scott Bolinder, to key positions within the IBSSTL Charity, Keith Danby turned his focus on to the UK with the announcement last month that he was to take personal control of the UK arm of charity.
The announcement from the Charity said, ‘Keith Danby, IBS-STL Global President, will assume the responsibility of leading the UK Charity with immediate effect and will lead an in depth review of all aspects of the ministry in preparation for the new fiscal year. Further details of the new structure will be available following the completion of this review’.
Graham Sopp steps down from his role as UK Chief Executive after fifteen months in post, to take on the new role of European Ministries Director. The announcement also said that Fred Slack would be leaving his role as Director of UK Fundraising after a period of handover. Speaking exclusively to Christian Marketplace Danby explained why he had taken the decision to take personal control of the UK arm.
“In summary, Graham Sopp’s leadership of the UK ministry has not worked out,” he said. “It was always going to be a very difficult task to take on the role of CEO of our UK ministry. IBS-STL UK is a big organization and steering the ship is a big job. Graham is a good man and has worked very hard but I felt we needed a change. This has been a very difficult year for all aspects of our trading units; sales have been in under pressure, as have margins and controlling costs.”
He admitted that the recent launch of SAP had been “a very serious disruption to the organization, [and] our retail and supplier customers. We are all deeply embarrassed at the impact this has had. I can only offer my sincere apology to everyone concerned.”
Asked how he would manage the dual role of Global President and UK Chief Danby said, “Because of the work I have done, and the people I have been able to bring on board in the last year, it means that I can be released to devote a significant amount of time to giving some leadership to the UK ministry.” He added that this would be his main focus and priority this year.
“We have a very experienced and talented team of Executives in the UK, many of whom have been involved in the UK Christian trade for 10- 20 years. They will be able to manage the day-to-ay elements of our operations. My role will be to give strategic leadership.”
Asked whether he was looking to appoint a new Chief Executive quickly or returning to UK permanently, Danby said that his move to Colorado Springs in March 2007 was never designed to be permanent. “Initially it was for a year but I have now been based there for two years. My wife, daughters and home are all still in the UK and I have an apartment in Colorado Springs so in the next year I will continue to move between the two locations as required.” Danby confirmed that he and the UK Board have agreed that he will be UK CEO “for the foreseeable future” and that he had “no plans to appoint a new CEO quickly.”
Asked about the recent difficulties which the trading arm of the charity had been experiencing in the UK, following the introduction of new systems at its warehousing operations in Carlisle, Danby said, “SAP has been a very big investment for IBS-STL. We made this investment because we believe this will ultimately give us a Global Enterprise System.”
With regards to the timing of the implementation he commented, “When we embarked on this project we wrote into the contract that we would not ‘go live’ during the autumn trading period. Originally, it was to be launched in the spring. Like all major computer projects, there was slippage and the revised date was then end of August which slipped to September and the finally to October. At one time we had over 20 SAP consultants working to keep deadlines.” He also stated, “It is important that you know that Graham [Sopp] was not asked to step down as CEO because of the SAP problems.”
Danby also made the point that had the system not gone live in October then the launch would have had to be held back to March 2009. “Delaying to March would mean the SAP consultants having to leave for 4-5 months … as they are all freelance consultants, getting them to come back as a team was regarded as unlikely.” The SAP software was successfully installed “and it works” said Danby, “but we encountered significant operational procedure problems”. He admitted that more time was needed for testing it with their operating procedures than had been anticipated.
“We have spent 21 years being committed to serving the UK Christian Retail trade”, he said. “We take failures like this very seriously and I say again we are deeply embarrassed and sorry.” Asked how optimistic he felt that things might improve for Christian retailing in the short-to-medium term Danby said,
“I do not want to be guilty of making pronouncements concerning the UK trade but I do believe what we are experiencing in economic terms is very serious and deeper than many of us have experienced in our life time. I think it will be sometime before we climb out of it, if it ever returns to what we would consider to be the norm. Consequentially it may result in some Christian retail stores closing. It does however present an opportunity to talk to landlords to see if rents can be reduced.”
Finally, we asked Mr Danby what his message to Christian retailers in the UK was. “Again, I would like to apologize for the way that STL Distribution has failed you at such a critical time. I can assure you that we are encouraged that, since returning after Christmas, we are back to what we consider to near normal service standards. Of course I realize now we have a very big job winning back our credibility and customer confidence. I hope my team and I can do that in the months ahead.”
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