Chris Hayward

Chris has been CEO of NMBS for over 20 years, in which time it has grown to be the largest buying group for Independent Building, Plumbing, Hardware & Timber Merchants in the UK, with an annual turnover in excess of £2.2bn, with over 1200 members and 4500 branches. 

During his tenure as CEO, he has focused on the strategic development of NMBS, which included the amalgamation with United Merchants in 2014 which effectively doubled the annual turnover, whilst simultaneously driving up returns to members, with the extra economies of scale falling straight to the bottom line. 

More recently NMBS has developed an online order portal, “Oneplace” for its members and suppliers and there are plans to develop this into a full B2B trading platform, enabling the full digitisation of transactions between members and suppliers, to rival the capabilities offered by Amazon and similar online marketplaces. 
 
In addition, he was President of EURO-MAT, the leading European cooperation of independent builders’ merchants between 2015-2024 and was president for over 8 years. 

Euro-mat was founded in 1989, the cooperation is based in Luxemburg and has today a market leading presence in 21 European countries with a portfolio of 19 shareholders and more than 7,300 outlets and a combined turnover of 32 Billion Euros. 

EURO-MAT acts on behalf of its members and generates exclusive European wide partnership agreements between suppliers and its builders merchant members. 

“I believe being a judge for these awards is a privilege, as it allows me to contribute to recognising excellence in our industry and fostering a culture of achievement. Its not just about celebrating success, its about shaping a standard of excellence that inspires and motivates others to reach their full potential”.