David Adams could be forgiven for shunning any thoughts of a dry January given his appointment this week as chairman of Conviviality Retail, owner of cut price off-licence chain Bargain Booze.

The Scot, already non-executive director of Conviviality since July last year, is likely to be popping open the Champagne as he celebrates another chairmanship role, this time at the fast growing and newly listed company.

The 51 year old must have drunk a lot of Champagne in his time, given the number of retail roles he has had chance to toast.   Adams is a retail addict; he has joined the board of a string of companies including Halfords, HMV, JJB Sports, Musto, and Park Cameras over the past few years alone.

It’s a career that started in 1986 when he joined Burton Group as financial planning manager before taking up three divisional roles during his seven-year tenure. He held group finance director roles at Texas Homecare and Asprey before taking on his longest stint to date at House of Fraser.

He cites his time at the department store group, where he held the roles of group finance director and deputy chief executive, as one of his career highlights.

“It wasn’t in great shape when I joined but we ended up achieving a great sale of the business, selling it for £350m [to a group of investors led by Icelandic tycoon Jon Asgeir Johannesson’s Baugur Group in 2006]. We made quite a lot of change, we closed stores, did a good property deal with British Land and changed the product quite a lot,” he recalls. “It was a big achievement.”

Spanning 10 years, House of Fraser may be his longest stint in his 25-year retail career, but Adams is arguably more known for his tenure at Jessops. He joined the camera specialist as executive chairman in 2007 and orchestrated the rescue deal that saved Jessops from administration in 2009 after securing a debt-for-equity swap with lenders HSBC.

As well as getting the banks onside, Adams made it his priority to build strong relationships with suppliers – critical in the world of camera retailing.

Adams latterly became chairman in July 2012 after recruiting Trevor Moore as chief executive. Adams’ tenure at Jessops was bittersweet. While the serial pluralist clearly looks back on his time there fondly, it ended rather bitterly after he exited following a difference of opinion with HSBC. Within a year the business fell into administration, and soon afterwards Adams hit out at HSBC for rejecting a private equity offer before its collapse.  

“It’s a career highlight but it’s a double-edged sword,” says Adams. “We did return Jessops to profit and suppliers loved it, it was the best channel to market in the UK. But it was also the lowest point [of my career]. It was very badly handled and it should not have gone into administration.”

But his passion for cameras did not wane, and he decided to take another shot at the market by taking up the role of chairman at Park Cameras, a specialist with an online business and a store in Sussex. He took the position just days after Dragons’ Den TV star Peter Jones bought the Jessops brand out of administration.

Adams has racked up an enviable amount of experience in retail. What is it about the sector that makes it so attractive? “I enjoy the consumer-facing side of it. I like the kind of people working in retail.” He adds, matter of factly: “I enjoy retail.”

Aside from retail, Adams’ other passion is sport. He’s a keen tennis player, having competed at county level when he was younger and even teaching the sport in the US during his university holidays. You can also find him on the slopes – he’s off to Japan in a few weeks – and regularly watches Chelsea Football Club with his son. He also serves as a director and trustee of the breast cancer charity Walk the Walk.

With numerous roles to his name and a huge opportunity to grow Conviviality, Adams certainly doesn’t have time for any Champagne hangovers in 2014.

Career snapshot

  • Current roles: Chairman of Conviviality Retail, acting executive chairman of Musto, chairman of Park Cameras
  • Current non-executive directorships: Halfords
  • Previous non-executive directorships include: HMV, JJB Sports
  • 2007 - 2012: Executive chairman, then latterly chairman of Jessops
  • 2008-2010: Non-executive chairman of Moss bros
  • 1997 - 2007: Finance director before becoming deputy chief executive, House of Fraser
  • 1995: Group finance director, Asprey
  • 1993: finance director of Texas Homecare
  • 1986 – 1993: Held various roles including group financial planning manager and finance director of Dorothy Perkins, Burton Group

Bargain Booze owner Conviviality appoints David Adams as chairman