With nearly three decades at Bunzl, Mark Paterson brings deep industry experience and a strong customer-first approach to his role as Sector Manager for Bunzl Healthcare. Supporting teams across Australia and New Zealand, Mark is passionate about helping healthcare providers focus on what matters most – delivering quality care. We spoke with him about his journey, leadership insights, and what excites him about the future of the healthcare sector.
Tell us about your role at Bunzl.
I am currently the Sector Manager for Bunzl Healthcare, supporting our healthcare teams across Australia & New Zealand.
How did you get started in the industry?
I grew up in country VIC & my first sales role was with a local fruit juice company calling on convenience stores & service stations selling fruit juice & mineral water, then from their I moved across to Berri Fruit Juices as the VIC sales manager for approx’ 7yrs, I then commenced with Bunzl 28yrs ago and after around 3yrs most of my customer responsibilities and interactions were across the healthcare sector and now all my focus is on assisting our hospital & aged care partners.
What do you appreciate the most about your position?
Being given the support from the Bunzl leadership to develop programmes that support our healthcare partners that will allow them to focus on their core business of providing care.
An example our strong customer centric focus was the recent cyclone(Alfred) that crossed the east coast which shut down the roads, transport & day to day operations of most businesses where as soon as it was safe to do so Bunzl were able to focus on getting deliveries of critical items out to our healthcare customers at a time when their customers were most vulnerable and we are only able to do this with the dedication of our staff and support of our management.
What do you think is most important when it comes to your role?
Being in my current role I have two types of customers – the external & the internal.
For my external customers the most important part of my role is listening to our customers to understand their challenges & strategic objectives to do our best to align our efforts into helping them lessen the challenges & meet those strategic goals.
For my internal customers I like to think I can make their day to day work life more rewarding by sharing the knowledge I have gained over the years to help them resolve problems or identify improvement opportunities as well as providing support & leadership so they achieve their goals & develop their capabilities for them to achieve their personal career aspirations.
What have been some major highlights in your career?
I am not sure whether this is a highlight, but it certainly is some sort of ‘light’ and I am referring to our recent experience with the Covid pandemic. I was very proud of how we, both as a business and myself, adjusted and our agility to be able to provide support to our healthcare partners during a very trying and challenging few years.
A more recent highlight for me personally was being invited to participate in a Bunzl leadership programme and as part of that the program were invited to spend sometime on country with a First Nations group in southern NSW. This time gave me great insight and understanding of the connection our Indigenous communities have to the land and why it means so much to them. I am proud that the company I work for has placed real importance & focus on Indigenous engagement and developed a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) plan with input from a well respected First Nations consultant (Dixie Crawford). I truly believe that our First Nations people should be included in the development of any engagement initiative.
What are you excited to see more of in the future when it comes to your industry?
Besides a continuous increase in Gov’t funding that will ensure all people in AUS/NZ can access high quality healthcare wherever & whenever they require it, I am excited to see more & more innovation in systems & products that support our healthcare providers to be able to focus on the care of residents & patients in their facilities.
Mark Paterson
Sector Manager – Healthcare
Bunzl Australia & New Zealand
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-paterson-1406aa44
