Breville general manager, Mark O’Kelly confirmed the departure of national sales manager, Michael Aquilina (pictured below), following an internal restructure of the sales department.

“Michael Aquilina left on Monday 8 August as a result of a sales restructure. Breville has split the sales function into two roles with Brian Taylor appointed as field sales manager and Heath Sturzaker appointed as general manager of national accounts.

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“We thank Michael for his service and contribution the business. Michael started as Philips sales manager eight years ago and then progressed to the role of Breville national sales manager. We also congratulate two stalwarts of the company – Brian Taylor who has been with the company for over 20 years and Heath Sturzaker who has been with the company for over 18 years.

O’Kelly also confirmed that former Sunbeam NSW sales manager left Breville after managing the seasonal product category including planning, forecasting and sales on a national basis. “Phil Avramis was a contractor assisting in the Seasonal Products portfolio and came to the end of his contract with Breville,” O’Kelly said. Avramis worked for Sunbeam for 17 years in the roles of NSW sales manager and national key account manager before joining Breville a year ago on a short term contract.

David Gubbin (pictured below) was appointed to a newly created role of general manager for UK and European Partners following the departure of Breville UK managing director, Tim Hossack. Gubbin oversees the UK sales and distribution office functions in addition to his role of managing the European distribution partners for the Breville group which he assumed earlier this year.

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Gubbin worked in the Breville office in Sydney across sales and marketing roles for 11 years before joining the UK office as director of sales and marketing in early 2013 to help launch the Sage by Heston Blumenthal range through retailers including John Lewis, Selfridges, House of Fraser, Debenhams, Lakeland, Harrods and Amazon.

Kambrook announces redundancies

In February, Breville Group general manager, Mark O’Kelly told Appliance Retailer that two positions were made redundant including Kambrook business manager, Richard Babekuhl and Kambrook sales coordinator, Sonja Featherstone.

Babekuhl joined the Breville Group in mid-2012 as marketing and communications manager for the Australian Breville business, before moving over to the Kambrook division in 2015. Prior to joining the Breville Group, Babekuhl worked for Electrolux Home Products in Australia and in China from 2004 across marketing, strategy and category roles.