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, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...

and chairman and chief executive of

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues an ...

. He is a former chairman of the

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the 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 and County Cricket Board, ...

, a former president of the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influenc ...

and a former Chancellor of the

University of Hertfordshire The University of Hertfordshire (UH) is a public university in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The university is based largely in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Its antecedent institution, Hatfield Technical College, was found ...

. He was a

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

member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster ...

from 1996 until his retirement in 2017.

Early life

Ian MacLaurin was born in 1937 in Blackheath, Kent. He attended

Shrewsbury House School Shrewsbury House School, commonly referred to as SHS or Shrewsbury House, is an independent day preparatory school for boys aged 7 to 13, in Surbiton at the edge of Greater London close to the Surrey border, its historic county, in England. Es ...

and

Malvern College Malvern College is an independent coeducational day and boarding school in Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school in the British sense of the term and is a member of the Rugby Group and of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' ...

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 the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company w ...

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 "Terry" 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. He now lives in Cuffley, Hertfords ...

Vodafone

MacLaurin joined Vodafone as a

non-executive director A non-executive director (abbreviated to non-exec, NED or NXD), independent director or external director is a member of the board of directors of a corporation, such as a company, cooperative or non-government organization, but not a member of ...

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.

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. From 1997 until 2002 he was the Chairman of the

and is now Chairman of the

Sport Honours Committee Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

. MacLaurin was President of the

from 1 October 2017 to 30 September 2018. His son

Neil MacLaurin Neil Ralph Charter MacLaurin (born 22 March 1966) is a former English cricketer. MacLaurin was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium pace. The son of Ian MacLaurin, Baron MacLaurin of Knebworth, a businessman and former Chairman ...

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 numb ...

for

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbourin ...

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

Other

MacLaurin is a supervisory board member of

Heineken International Heineken N.V. () is a Dutch multinational brewing company, founded in 1864 by Gerard Adriaan Heineken in Amsterdam. , Heineken owns over 165 breweries in more than 70 countries. It produces 348 international, regional, local and speciality b ...

. MacLaurin has been a Chancellor of the

. He is currently the chairman of the college council of

. He is the president of

The Enterprise Forum The Enterprise Forum is an independent, British, not-for-profit organisation that was founded in 1997 to facilitate discussions on policy between the Business Community and the Conservative Party. In 2010 the organisation began engagement with the ...

, a not-for-profit organisation that organises meetings between business and the Coalition government. Lord MacLaurin is also chairman of Paperless Receipts Ltd, a company whose system (eReceipts) powers the digital receipts and customer engagement programmes for retailers such as Argos,

Monsoon Accessorize Monsoon Accessorize is a British private limited company. It operates two international retail clothing chains – Monsoon and Accessorize.Booths 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, Greater Manchester, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire. It has been described as the "Wait ...

. Lord Maclaurin is Honorary Life President of Hope for Tomorrow, a UK charity dedicated to bringing cancer care closer to patients' homes via Mobile Cancer Care Units (MCCUs).

Honours

He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

(FRSA) in 1986. He was knighted 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 Walden an ...

in the County of Hertfordshire. He served as a Deputy Lieutenant of the

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

of Hertfordshire from 1992-2001 and for

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershir ...

from 2002-2012. This gives him the

Post Nominal Letters Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, academic degree, accreditation, ...

"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