Michael Tomkins is back doing what he does best, playing musical chairs, with the former Laser Corporation, The Crest Company and the E3 Style Executive jumping ship yet again, this time to Directed Electronics who sell Chinese brand Eufy and Anker products.
Retailers have questioned the move due to the lack of loyalty shown to an employee who has invested a lot of time developing management in the best interest of retailers. Tomkins, who has a questionable reputation, was the subject of a stoush between his former employer, Brisbane-based The Crest Company, and Laser Corporation, and prior to that E3 Style, where he was National Accounts Manager before it was placed into administration.
E3 Style were forced to call in the administrators after a major legal battle with Brisbane-based distributor The Crest Company, where Tompkins ended up working for a short while.
The Brisbane-based distributor was also sued by Adelaide-based Powermove for $2M dollars, following a failed business deal.
The CEO of the Company at the time was Vanessa Garrard who is now touting her business skills by advising other Companies how to run a business.
Michael Tomkins poses while working at Laser Corporation
Alister Shakes poses while working at Laser Corporation
Tomkins, who has been appointed head of private label brands, which in many Companies are basically rebranded Chinese products that are given a new Western market name, has been joined at Directed Electronics by Alister Shakes, former JB Hi-Fi buyer who also joined Laser from The Crest Company.
Shakes has been appointed Head Of Product Development. He was also working at Laser Corporation.
When the two joined the Laser Corporation speculation was that The Crest Company would sue, with insiders telling ChannelNews that Tomkins had a “no compete” clause in his contract.
ChannelNews is still waiting for a comment from Laser Corporation’s Chris Lau, who went out of his way to hire the two executives prior to COVID lockdowns.
Back in 2020, Laser managing director Chris Lau was welcoming ‘Michael and Alastair’ to the Laser team.
“2020 has already seen us invest heavily in new talent across the business, and more robust processes, as we strive to capitalise on the unprecedented interest, we are seeing from potential partners both in Australia and overseas,” he said.
At Laser, Tomkins worked on private label brands.
Lau said when he was employed, “We see private label as an area of growth for us, as partners are drawn to our ability to deliver high quality products at affordable prices and have the processes and people in place to ensure a compelling offer to consumers.”
ChannelNews understands that both Tomkins and Shakes have taken knowledge of Laser Corporation’s manufacturing partners to Directed in the same way they apparently took gleaned information from The Crest Company to Laser Corporation.
ChannelNews is not aware of either employee doing anything wrong.
Tomorrow Chris Lau talks about the parting of the way with Tomkis & Shakes.
