Allan Leighton
| Allan Leighton | |
|---|---|
| Born |
12 April 1953 Hereford, England |
| Residence |
Stanmore, England Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Nationality | British |
| Education |
Magdalen College School Oxford Polytechnic Harvard University |
| Known for |
Asda (former CEO) Royal Mail (former chairman) Pandora (former chairman) Loblaw Companies (President) |
| Children | 3 |
Allan Leighton (born 12 April 1953) is an English businessman, former CEO of Asda, former chief executive of Pandora, and former non executive chairman of the Royal Mail. He is the currently chairman of The Co-operative Group. He took up his post in February 2015.
Born in Hereford, the son of a Co-op shop manager, he was raised in Oxford. Educated at Magdalen College School, Brackley, he harboured thoughts of becoming a professional footballer, but broke his leg in six places aged 15.
After graduation from Oxford Polytechnic, he joined Lloyds Bank as a cashier in 1972. Leighton left to join Mars UK in Slough as a salesman in 1974, where he spent eighteen years, his colleagues included Justin King, David Cheesewright and Richard Baker. Leighton was appointed General Sales Manager for the UK Grocery Division in 1987 (the youngest director in the company worldwide), and subsequently managing director of Mars in Ireland and Portugal.
Leighton says he owes a lot to the Mars brothers, who gave him the practical basis for much of what he did at Asda: they would fly economy, hire a car and inspect a factory without warning before management arrived, talking to workers to get a sense of what was going on.
Leaving Mars group as marketing and sales director for Pedigree Petfoods, he joined Archie Norman's management team at Asda as Marketing Director in March 1992. Sent on Harvard University's Advanced Management Program,
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