Ian MacLaurin, Baron MacLaurin of Knebworth

Ian Charter MacLaurin, Baron MacLaurin of Knebworth DL

Deputy Lieutenant

In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....

, (born 30 March 1937) is a British businessman who has been Chairman of Vodafone

Vodafone

Vodafone Group Plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers , with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of...

and Chairman and Chief Executive of Tesco

Tesco

Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...

. He is a former Chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board

England and Wales Cricket Board

The England and Wales Cricket Board is the governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was created on 1 January 1997 combining the roles of the Test and County Cricket Board, the National Cricket Association and the Cricket Council...

and a former Chancellor of the University of Hertfordshire

University of Hertfordshire

The University of Hertfordshire is a new university based largely in Hatfield, in the county of Hertfordshire, England, from which the university takes its name. It has more than 27,500 students, over 2500 staff, with a turnover of over £181m...

.

Ian MacLaurin was born in 1937 in Blackheath

Blackheath, London

Blackheath is a district of South London, England. It is named from the large open public grassland which separates it from Greenwich to the north and Lewisham to the west...

, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

. He attended Malvern College

Malvern College

Malvern College is a coeducational independent school located on a 250 acre campus near the town centre of Malvern, Worcestershire in England. Founded on 25 January 1865, until 1992, the College was a secondary school for boys aged 13 to 18...

as a pupil.

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 lead Tesco away from the "pile it high, sell it cheap" business philosophy of founder Jack Cohen

Jack Cohen (Tesco)

Sir John Edward Cohen , born Jacob Edward Kohen and commonly known as Jack Cohen, was a British businessman who founded the Tesco supermarket chain.-Career:...

. He has claimed his most important act was appointing the right successor, Terry Leahy

Terry Leahy

Sir Terry Leahy is a former CEO of Tesco, the largest British supermarket chain.He lives in Cuffley, Hertfordshire, with his wife, Alison and his three children.- Early life :...

Vodafone

Ian MacLaurin joined Vodafone as a non-executive director

Non-executive director

A non-executive director or outside director is a member of the board of directors of a company who does not form part of the executive management team. He or she is not an employee of the company or affiliated with it in any other way...

in 1997, becoming Chairman in July 1998. He stepped down on the merger with AirTouch

AirTouch

AirTouch Communications was a U.S.-based wireless telephone service provider, created as a spin-off on Pacific Telesis on April 1, 1994. Its headquarters were in One California in the Financial District, San Francisco, California...

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

John Bond (banker)

Sir John Reginald Hartnell Bond retired as chairman of HSBC Holdings plc on 26 May 2006, after spending 45 years with the bank. He took up the position of Chairman of Vodafone in July 2006....

. 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

Malvern College

, he played in the First XI. In his 20s, he played Minor Counties cricket for Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire County Cricket Club

Hertfordshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Hertfordshire and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy...

. From 1997 until 2002 he was a Chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board

England and Wales Cricket Board

and is now Chairman of the Sport Honours Committee. His son Neil MacLaurin

Neil MacLaurin

Neil Ralph Charter MacLaurin is a former English cricketer. MacLaurin was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium pace...

has played first-class

First-class cricket

First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

and List A cricket for Middlesex

Middlesex County Cricket Club

Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...

, as well as Minor Counties and List A cricket for Hertfordshire.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts

Royal Society of Arts

The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce is a British multi-disciplinary institution, based in London. The name Royal Society of Arts is frequently used for brevity...

in 1986. He was knighted in 1989, and created a life peer in 1996 taking the title Baron MacLaurin of Knebworth, of Knebworth

Knebworth

Knebworth is a village and civil parish in the north of Hertfordshire, England immediately south of Stevenage. The civil parish covers an area between the villages of Datchworth, Woolmer Green, Codicote, Kimpton, Whitwell, St Paul's Walden and Langley, and encompasses the village of Knebworth, the...

in the County of Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

.

MacLaurin has been a Chancellor of the University of Hertfordshire

University of Hertfordshire

. He is currently the chairman of the college council of Malvern College

Malvern College

External links

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