2 weeks ago
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Unicomer Jamaica, operator of the Courts furniture stores, has a new managing director.
Ann Marie Walters became the first female to head the chain in the 66 years of its local operation in June. She succeeded Edwin Vaquerano, who himself replaced Dennis Harris as head of Unicomer Jamaica back in September 2021.
Walters, who began her career in retail at Courts Jamaica, has served the business for more than two decades in various senior management and leadership roles. Most recently, she held the position of Regional Business Unit Director within the Unicomer Group, where she was responsible for strategic planning and execution, performance management, operational oversight, innovation, and growth initiatives.
Unicomer Group, which operates in 20 countries across Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States, acquired the Courts chain in 2006. Its operations in Jamaica includes Courts, Ashley Furniture, Lucky Dollar, Ready Cash, Radio Shack, and Courts Optical.
Unicomer Group Chairman and CEO Mario Simán said in a press statement that as saying that Walters’ “strong leadership and extensive industry experience make her the ideal person to guide Unicomer Jamaica into its next chapter”.
In an interview with the Financial Gleaner, Walters described the new appointment as one of the proudest moment of her professional career, and said the experience gained in Belize – a Central American country of around 420,000 people – has helped to prepare her for the current job in Jamaica, which has a population that’s seven times larger.
“Belize turned out to be a beautiful country with beautiful people. Very supportive and open arms. They readily accepted the changes,” said Walters.
“With those changes and the workflow, we were able to win together. Despite my apprehension at first, it turned out beautifully,” she said.
The assignment that was initially to last three months, but stretched to one year and five months.
Her new job puts her in charge of a network of 29 Courts stores, and eight Lucky Dollar stores, down from 12.
Walters said that with the Lucky Dollar closures and the amalgamation of the Ready Cash microfinance operation into the Courts branches, there will be no further changes. Now the focus will be service delivery that’s people-centric and personalised.
“It’s going to be the key focus and fundamental strategy that will be employed going forward,” new MD said, to “bring back that personalisation and the human-centric approach within the business”.
“I don’t know about you, but a lot of the experience that I’m seeing or having is that you’re speaking more to a machine than individuals, and while I understand that, yes, we have to move to technology, we’re still dealing with human beings and not robots,” Walters said.
English (US) ·