Peter Martin Harkness (born May 1949) is a British media entrepreneur and investor. A former journalist, he is a director of the business data specialist

GlobalData GlobalData Plc is a data analytics and consulting company, headquartered in London, England. The company was established in 1999, and, under different names, has been listed on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) since ...

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Early life

Peter Martin Harkness was born in May 1949.

Career

After a 15-year spell as a journalist in the West Midlands, Harkness became deputy editor of the ''

Sunday Mercury ''Sunday Mercury'' is a Sunday Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid published in Birmingham, UK, and now owned by Reach plc. History The first edition was published on 29 December 1918. The first editor was John Turner Fearon (1869–1937), w ...

'' when he switched to newspaper management. He became managing director of the London Newspaper Group after acquiring it from Yattendon Investment Trust in a 1985. Harkness joined media company Magicalia in the early 2000s and led management teams which acquired and sold a series of media companies, including the Butler Group, which was sold to

Datamonitor Datamonitor is an international company providing market intelligence, data analysis, and opinion via a worldwide network of in-house analysts. The company tracks Automotive, Consumer Markets, Energy & Utilities, Financial Services, Logistics & E ...

for £11 million; the Midlands magazine group WHY Publications, sold to the

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

group for £14 million; and Precise Media, sold to

Phoenix Equity Partners Phoenix Equity Partners is a United Kingdom mid-market private equity firm. It specialises in working with management teams to help grow their businesses. It invests in companies valued at up to £150m. History Phoenix was co-founded in 2001 by H ...

for £42 million. In 2006, he co-founded, with Owen Davies, the publishing and e-commerce group MyTime Media Ltd. In 2009, concerned at the continuing dominance of privately educated pupils from the

South of England Southern England, also known as the South of England or the South, is a sub-national part of England. Officially, it is made up of the southern, south-western and part of the eastern parts of England, consisting of the statistical regions of ...

being accepted at

Oxbridge Oxbridge is a portmanteau of the University of Oxford, Universities of Oxford and University of Cambridge, Cambridge, the two oldest, wealthiest, and most prestigious universities in the United Kingdom. The term is used to refer to them collect ...

colleges, Harkness and his wife Sarah founded a series of bursaries and prizes to encourage applicants from

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

and the North East to apply for places at Mansfield College,

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. This initiative was in support of Mansfield's "Widening Access" campaign, through which the college had by 2019 seen the percentage of

state school A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in part by taxation and operated by the government of the state. State-f ...

pupils admitted to Mansfield rise to 96.1%. Harkness served as a trustee of York Museums Trust from 2010 to 2014. He served as chairman of The Cheltenham Trust, an arts charity that manages five iconic arts, performance and leisure venues in

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

, from 2014 to 2020. As of November 2021, he has been a trustee for Cogges Heritage Trust. He retired after nine years as chairman of the listed investment fund, Chrysalis VCT in October 2017. He resigned his chairmanship of MyTime Media on 28 February 2018. Harkness is director of the business data specialist

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harkness, Peter 1949 births Living people British business executives People from the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral Trustees of York Museums Trust