Ian Charter MacLaurin, Baron MacLaurin of Knebworth (born 30 March 1937) is a British businessman, who has been chairman of

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...

and chairman and chief executive of

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

. He is a former chairman of the

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board, aka ECB, is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test ...

, a former president of the

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

and a former Chancellor of the

University of Hertfordshire The University of Hertfordshire (UH) is a Universities in the United Kingdom, university in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The university is based largely in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Its antecedent institution, Hatfield ...

. He was a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

from 1996 until his retirement in 2017.

Early life

Ian MacLaurin was born in 1937 in Blackheath, Kent. He attended Shrewsbury House School and

Malvern College Malvern College is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging coeducational boarding school, boarding and day school in Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school (United Kingdom), public school ...

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 J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is a British supermarket and the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company was the largest UK r ...

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 Sir Terence Patrick Leahy (born 28 February 1956) is a British businessman, previously the CEO of Tesco, the largest British retailer and the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues. In 2011, he became a senior advisor at priva ...

Vodafone

MacLaurin joined Vodafone as a non-executive director in 1997, becoming chairman in July 1998. He stepped down on the merger with

AirTouch AirTouch Communications, Inc. was an American Mobile phone, wireless telephone service provider, created as a Corporate spin-off, spin-off of Pacific Telesis on April 1, 1994. Its headquarters were located in the One California building in the F ...

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.

Cricket

MacLaurin has always been enthusiastic towards sports. At

, he played in the First XI. In his 20s, he played

Minor Counties The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

cricket for

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. From 1997 until 2002 he was the Chairman of the

and is now Chairman of the Sport Honours Committee. MacLaurin was President of the

from 1 October 2017 to 30 September 2018. His son Neil MacLaurin has played first-class and

List A cricket List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the num ...

for

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

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

Other

MacLaurin is a supervisory board member of

Heineken International Heineken Naamloze vennootschap, N.V. (), branded as The Heineken Company is a Dutch multinational corporation, multinational brewery, brewing company, founded in 1864 by Gerard Adriaan Heineken in Amsterdam. Heineken owns over 165 breweries in m ...

. MacLaurin has been a Chancellor of the

. He was also the long-term chairman of the college council of

. He is the president of The Enterprise Forum, a not-for-profit organisation that organises meetings between business and the Coalition government. MacLaurin is chairman of Paperless Receipts Ltd, a company that works with retailers including

Argos Argos most often refers to: * Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece * Argus (Greek myth), several characters in Greek mythology * Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer in the United Kingdom Argos or ARGOS may also refer to: Businesses ...

Monsoon Accessorize Monsoon Accessorize is a British private limited company. It operates two international retail clothing chains – Monsoon and Accessorize.Booths E. H. Booth & Co., Limited, trading as Booths, is a chain of high-end supermarkets in Northern England. Most of its branches are in Lancashire, but there are also branches in Cheshire, Cumbria, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire. It has been ...

. MacLaurin is honorary life president of Hope for Tomorrow, a UK cancer charity.

Honours

He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

(FRSA) in 1986. He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in 1989, and raised to the peerage for life in 1996 taking the title Baron MacLaurin of Knebworth, of

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 Wald ...

in the County of

. He served as a deputy lieutenant of the

County A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

from 1992 to 2001 and for

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

from 2002 to 2012. This gives him the Post Nominal Letters "DL" for Life. He was awarded Honorary Life Membership of the

in 2005.

References

External links

TheyWorkForYou.com: keeping tabs on the UK's parliaments and assemblies: Lord MacLaurin of Knebworth
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maclaurin, Ian 1937 births Chancellors of the University of Hertfordshire English businesspeople Maclaurin of Knebworth People educated at Malvern College British businesspeople in retailing Living people Chairmen of Tesco Chairmen of Vodafone Deputy lieutenants of Wiltshire Deputy lieutenants of Hertfordshire English cricketers Hertfordshire cricketers Knights Bachelor British chief executives British chairpersons of corporations People from Blackheath, London People from Knebworth Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club Life peers created by Elizabeth II Peers retired under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014