Sir Peter John Davis (born 23 December 1941) is a British businessman, who was, from 2000 to 2004, the CEO of J Sainsbury plc, which operates the UK

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

chain Sainsbury's. Davis was born in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

on 23 December 1941, the son of John Stephen Davis and Adriaantje de Baat. He was educated at

Shrewsbury School Shrewsbury School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Shrewsbury. Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by royal charter, to replace the town's Saxon collegiate foundations which were disestablished in the sixteenth century, Shrewsb ...

. Peter Davis worked for a company called the Ditchburn Organisation, Dock Road, Lytham, Lancashire, U.K. circa 1960/61. Ditchburns had two sides, one side being Ditchburn Music Maker, which manufactured and sold Juke Boxes and the other side being Ditchburn Vending Machines, which manufactured and sold Hot and Cold drink vending machines. Davis worked for the sales and marketing side of Ditchburn Vending Machines. Davis worked for Sainsbury from 1976 to 1986 as marketing director and then assistant managing director. Between 1986 and 1994 he was chief executive and chairman of the publishing business

Reed International RELX plc (pronounced "Rel-ex") is a British multinational information and analytics company headquartered in London, England. Its businesses provide scientific, technical and medical information and analytics; legal information and analytics; ...

and was involved in the merger with the Dutch scientific publisher Elsevier. He was chief executive of

Prudential plc Prudential plc is a British-domiciled Multinational corporation, multinational insurance and asset management company headquartered in London and Hong Kong. It was founded in London in May 1848 to provide loans to professional and working peop ...

from 1995 having joined the company as a non-executive director. During this period, the company was condemned by the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry; in a business context, corporate treasury. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be ...

for mis-selling more pensions than any other firm. The Securities and Investments Board ordered the firm to retrain its entire sales staff, due to 'continuing and persistent breaches' of the standards of training for the sales force. Davis was knighted in the 1997 New Year Honours for services to training and to industry. In 1997 he featured in the Prudential's television advertising campaign 'The Man from the Pru', built around the image of Davis as a friendly man advising on his customers' futures. In reality, Prudential staff were required to call him 'Mr Davis' when they met him. Davis rejoined Sainsbury's on 1 March 2000 as

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

and implemented a £2bn investment in upgrading IT systems, distribution depots and stores. During his term Sainsbury's was demoted to third in the UK grocery market, behind

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 ...

and

Asda Asda Stores Limited (), trading as Asda and often styled as ASDA, is a British supermarket and petrol station chain. Its headquarters is in Leeds, England. The company was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. It expanded ...

. However, in his first two years he raised profits above target and delivered significant cost savings. With the arrival of Justin King as CEO on 29 March 2004, Davis was promoted to chairman. He was due to step down in July 2005 (the appointment of Sir Ian Prosser, ex-

Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

chairman, as his successor was aborted in February 2004), but in June 2004 he was forced to quit in the face of an impending shareholder revolt over his salary and bonuses. Investors were angered by a bonus share award of £2.4m in the face of the supermarket's drop in market share. Davis was succeeded by Philip Hampton. Davis has also served on the board of

Boots A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearl ...

. He was previously on the board of

Business in the Community Business in the Community (BITC) is a British business-community outreach charity promoting responsible business, Corporate social responsibility, CSR, corporate responsibility, and is one of the The Prince's Charities, Prince's Charities of Cha ...

(1991–2005), having been chairman from 1996 to December 2001 and served two terms on the Board of the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

and was Trustee and Chairman of the Royal Opera House Foundation. Davis is a senior advisor and a member of the advisory board of

Permira Permira Holdings Limited is a British global investment firm specialised in buyouts, growth funds, equity funds, and credit funds. Founded in 1985 as part of Schroders, it became independent in 1996. Operating as Permira since 2001, the company ...

, Europe's largest private equity company. He has served as a Trustee of the Princess Royal Trust for Carers. Between 2006 and 2011 he was chairman of the charity

Marie Curie Cancer Care Marie Curie is a registered charitable organization, charitable organisation in the United Kingdom which provides hospice care and support for anyone with an illness they are likely to die from, and those close to them, and campaigns for better su ...

Footnotes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Peter 1941 births Living people British businesspeople Businesspeople awarded knighthoods Knights Bachelor People educated at Shrewsbury School People from Cheshire Sainsbury's people