Ian MacLaurin, Baron MacLaurin of Knebworth

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The Lord MacLaurin of Knebworth
Born (1937-03-30) 30 March 1937
Blackheath, Kent, United Kingdom

Ian Charter MacLaurin, Baron MacLaurin of Knebworth DL, (born 30 March 1937) is a British businessman who has been Chairman of Vodafone and chairman and chief executive of Tesco. He is a former Chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board and a former Chancellor of the University of Hertfordshire.

Ian MacLaurin was born in 1937 in Blackheath, Kent. He attended Malvern College as a pupil.

Career

Tesco

MacLaurin joined Tesco in 1959 as a management trainee, then held a number of more senior appointments in its retail operations before being appointed to its Board in 1970. He was appointed managing director in the 1970s and became chairman in 1985.

By the time of his retirement in 1997 Tesco had overtaken Sainsbury's to become the largest UK retailer. MacLaurin led Tesco away from the "pile it high, sell it cheap" business philosophy of founder Jack Cohen. He has claimed his most important act was appointing the right successor, Terry Leahy.[1]

Vodafone

Ian MacLaurin joined Vodafone as a non-executive director in 1997, becoming chairman in July 1998. He stepped down on the merger with AirTouch Communications Inc in 1999, resuming his role a year later.

Upon his retirement from the Board in July 2006, he became an adviser to the Company. He was succeeded as chairman by Sir John Bond. He also became Chairman of the Vodafone Group Foundation, an independent charitable trust set up to administer charitable and other donations on behalf of the Company.

Other

MacLaurin is a Supervisory Board member of Heineken International.

MacLaurin has always been enthusiastic towards sports. At Malvern College, he played in the First XI. In his 20s, he played Minor Counties cricket for Hertfordshire. From 1997 until 2002 he was a Chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board[2] and is now Chairman of the Sport Honours Committee. His son Neil MacLaurin has played first-class and List A cricket for Middlesex, as well as Minor Counties and List A cricket for Hertfordshire.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1986. He was knighted in 1989, and created a life peer in 1996 taking the title Baron MacLaurin of Knebworth, of Knebworth in the County of Hertfordshire.

MacLaurin has been a Chancellor of the University of Hertfordshire. He is currently the chairman of the college council of Malvern College.

He is the President of The Enterprise Forum. A not for profit organisation that organises meetings between business and the Coalition Government.[3]

References

  1. ↑ "Store wars 10 ways Tesco took the lead". The Guardian (Guardian Newspapers). 20 October 2004. p. 19. 
  2. ↑ Cricinfo.com : profile of Lord MacLaurin.
  3. ↑ "The Enterprise Forum". 
  • Lord MacLaurin made Tesco Britain's premier supermarket group. Now he is retiring – to take on the daunting task of revitalising English cricket, Judi Bevan, Sunday Telegraph, London, 13 April 1997.
  • Lord MacLaurin checks out for last time, Clifford German, The Independent, 7 June 1997.
  • MacLaurin to be first NGBF patron.(Lord McLaurin, National Grocer's Benevolent Fund), The Grocer, 10 June 2000.
  • English cricket's leading administrator has presided over a revolution which has turned a shambles into a force capable of winning the Ashes, Brian Viner, The Independent, 30 May 2001.
  • The former ECB chairman tells Scyld Berry how resistance to management change decided his future, Scyld Berry, Sunday Telegraph, 4 May 2003.

External links

Key people
Retail
International operations
Services
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  • Annual revenue GB£62.54 billion
  • Employees 552,004
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