Lee McQueen (born
Perivale
Perivale () is an area of Greater London, west of Charing Cross. It is the smallest of the seven towns which make up the London Borough of Ealing.
Perivale is mostly residential, with a library, community centre, a number of parks and open s ...
,
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 ...
) is a British
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...
and winner of
series four
Series may refer to:
People with the name
* Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series
* George Series (1920–1995), English physicist
Arts, entertainment, and media
Music
* Series, the ordered sets used i ...
of the UK version of the reality show ''
The Apprentice'' in which 16 candidates fought to be the winner of a £100,000 a year job working for
Lord Sugar. Prior to beating 20,000 candidates to become Lord Sugar's Apprentice in 2008, McQueen spent 10 years in the recruitment industry. Since working for Lord Sugar, McQueen has gone on to set up his own company, Raw Talent Academy and feature regularly in magazines, newspapers and television mostly with regards to his achievements with a lack of qualifications. He also regularly appears as a co-host on
Love Sport Radio
Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...
's ''Tottenham Fans Show''.
Biography
McQueen, who is the son of a milkman,
[BBC – Beds Herts and Bucks – People – He's hired!]
/ref> grew up in North London
North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire.
The term ''nor ...
and was educated at Queensmead School in South Ruislip
South Ruislip is an area of west London in the London Borough of Hillingdon, south-east of Ruislip, south of Eastcote, north-west of Northolt, and west of South Harrow. A 2017 estimation put the population of South Ruislip ward as 13,150 residen ...
which is a state comprehensive where he left with a BTEC Diploma. On leaving school McQueen took his first job as a trainee catering manager at Harrow School
Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (sc ...
where he stayed for 4 years before moving into the recruitment
Recruitment is the overall process of identifying, sourcing, screening, shortlisting, and interviewing candidates for jobs (either permanent or temporary) within an organization. Recruitment also is the processes involved in choosing individua ...
industry. Specialising in IT recruitment
Recruitment is the overall process of identifying, sourcing, screening, shortlisting, and interviewing candidates for jobs (either permanent or temporary) within an organization. Recruitment also is the processes involved in choosing individua ...
McQueen spent over 6 and a half of his 10 years in recruitment with Capita
Capita plc, commonly known as Capita, is an international business process outsourcing and professional services company headquartered in London.
It is the largest business process outsourcing and professional services company in the United ...
Resourcing where he managed a business unit of 30 staff.
''The Apprentice''
On his way to winning ''the Apprentice'' McQueen was on the losing team just three times whilst winning eight tasks, twice as the project manager, including the final and never having to face Lord Sugar in the boardroom as one of the bottom three. During the series McQueen was caught lying on his CV about the amount of time spent at university, something which even Prime Minister Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...
commented on, as well as being notable for his "reverse pterodactyl" impression and his catchphrase "That's what I'm talking about!"
Amscreen
McQueen started work helping to set up Amscreen as the development director. Amscreen forms a part of Lord Sugar's holding company Amshold with Lord Sugar's son Simon Sugar as the chief executive officer, McQueen secured his first deal with BP that saw the digital signage
Digital signage is a segment of electronic signage. Digital displays use technologies such as LCD, LED, projection and e-paper to display digital images, video, web pages, weather data, restaurant menus, or text. They can be found in publi ...
screens installed in 335 company-owned sites and offered to another 800 of BP's dealer partners. After 2 years in the role helping to set up Amscreen as an established company McQueen revealed in July 2010 that he was giving up his post and said "Having gained a huge amount of experience in my role at Amscreen, I felt now was the right time to start up on my own".[The Apprentice winner Lee McQueen quits his job , TV News , Now Magazine]
/ref> On leaving Lord Sugar was quoted as saying McQueen had "made an important contribution to Amscreen and we wish him all the best".
Raw Talent Academy
In September 2010 McQueen announced he had started his own company called Raw Talent Academy with the aim "to provide SMEs and corporate organisations with the vehicle to build internal sales academies into long term staffing plans". In June 2011 McQueen launched an academy in Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...
and featured on the local ITV News as well as the Bristol Evening Post
The ''Bristol Post'' is a city/regional five-day-a-week (formerly appearing six days per week) newspaper covering news in the city of Bristol, including stories from the whole of Greater Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. It wa ...
as the academy looked to place 10 people in work with a local employer.
Raw Talent Academy, with McQueen as Director, have launched more sales academies across the UK in places like Watford
Watford () is a town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal en ...
, Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
and Windsor.
McQueen has also featured on ITV's '' Daybreak'' during the A-Level and GCSEs results period talking about his achievements with a lack of qualifications.
Personal life
McQueen is married and lives in Oxfordshire with his wife and three daughters. He is a fan of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and often appears on Tottenham Hotspur YouTube fan channels as a guest.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:McQueen, Lee
British businesspeople
Living people
The Apprentice (British TV series) candidates
Year of birth missing (living people)
The Apprentice (franchise) winners