After holding a number of leadership positions with leading travel retail brands – Godiva, Diageo and Rémy Cointreau – Matthew Hodges joined Harding Retail in August 2021 as Chief Commercial Officer.
With over 20 years of travel retail experience, having led the strategic growth programmes for some of the world’s greatest brands such as Johnnie Walker and luxury cognac brand Louis XIII, Matthew is well versed in accelerating commercial growth at board level, identifying opportunities, developing strategies to address them, and is no stranger to cruise retail having worked with Harding to secure Godiva’s first café onboard Queen Mary 2 and their appointment as in-cabin supplier for Cunard’s ‘turn down’ chocolate service.
At Harding, Hodges leads the Buying & Merchandising Team as well as the Global Retail Operations and Marketing and Insight teams and works closely with the Logistics and Finance teams. He has responsibility for the development of joint business plans with both cruise line and brand partners leading category innovation at sea.