Meet the retail team

Jane Priddis, course leader

Following an early career in Product Management and Retail Buying in the food industry, Jane has spent over twenty years as a Marketing Consultant and Management Trainer, alongside her role as Senior Lecturer in Marketing. She holds the postgraduate Diploma in Marketing, and is a Chartered Marketer and a full member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Her specialist areas are retail management, consumer psychology, and marketing strategy, and she is developing her knowledge of competitive intelligence.

In addition to her role over almost twenty years as a course leader for the Institute of Directors, where she trained company directors in marketing strategy, Jane was also Marketing Director of Essential Business, a Brighton-based publishing company. She was co-author of The Essential Business Guide, hailed by many as the ‘bible’ for small businesses, and the only business book ever to win the Plain English Award. Building on the success of the Guide, Jane also wrote and marketed a complete start-up business planning tool, used by providers across the UK.

Chris Dutton, Assistant head of school

Prior to joining the university, Chris spent 12 years gaining retail management experience with J. Sainsbury PLC, which included a number of years as a store manager. With expertise in course and module design, Chris has been an influential addition to the school’s development team. His research interests include retail operations management, customer service, service quality and management leadership, and he has presented his research at a number of prestigious international retail conferences and recently completed a co-authored chapter on the service experience at the London Olympics.

Chris has an MBA that informs a number of key consultancy contracts for the University, including advising Rick Stein on his retail strategy and Siemens on their customer service strategy. Chris also works closely with a number of our European and international partner institutions, but he remains a dedicated and committed tutor and lecturer to the retail courses.

Harvey Ells, Principal lecturer

Before joining the university, Harvey worked in a variety of retail store operation and head office roles for national food retailers. He holds an MA in Learning and Development, an MSc in Food Policy and postgraduate certificates in Research Methods and Academic Practice.

Since coming to Brighton, Harvey has focused on the ongoing development of our retail courses and food curriculum. His research interests include higher education service quality, food street markets, retail SMEs, retail branding, community food projects, sustainable food supply chains and UK urban agriculture policy.

Susan Bishop, Senior Lecturer Marketing

Susan is a Senior Marketing Lecturer at the University of Brighton teaching on Postgraduate and undergraduate programmes. Her specialist areas are: Fashion Retailing, Retail Consultancy, Project Management and Marketing Planning. Susan is a Chartered Marketer, continuing to update her knowledge and skills each year with additional research and educational development projects.

Research interests include the history of retail department stores and their fashion marketing events. In particular Susan has been studying a press album from Barkers department store, Kensington, London, 1928 to 1930. Susan also runs a network of Brighton fashion designers and independent retailers www.creativefashionforum.com.