James John McCarthy (born January 1956) is a British businessman, chief executive officer (CEO) of

Poundland Poundland Limited is a British variety store chain founded by Dave Dodd and Steven Smith in 1990, originally selling all of its items at the single price of £1. The retailer grew from a single location in Burton upon Trent, opening its hund ...

, the British

discount store Discount stores offer a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on bulk purchasing and efficient distribution to keep down costs. Types (Uni ...

chain.

Early life

James John McCarthy was born in January 1956 in

Nuneaton Nuneaton ( ) is a market town in Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire to the north-east.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Nuneaton's population at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 censu ...

, Warwickshire and grew up in suburban Birmingham, one of three sons of an Army turned

Scottish and Newcastle Scottish & Newcastle plc was a brewing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, which expanded from its home base to become an international business with beer volumes growing almost tenfold. The company was listed on the London Stock Exc ...

brewers sales rep father. He was educated at St Philip's Grammar School, but left aged 17.

Career

In 2006, McCarthy joined Poundland as CEO from

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 ...

, where he had been head of its convenience store business.

Personal life

He and his wife Rosie have two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, Jim Living people 1956 births British chief executives Businesspeople from Birmingham, West Midlands People educated at St Philip's School