Richard Cousins

Richard John Cousins (born 29 March 1959) is the chief executive officer of the world's largest foodservice company, the Compass Group, based in Chertsey, Surrey.

He was born in Leeds, and grew up in Bracknell, where he attended The Brakenhale School, a comprehensive school.

He did a Mathematics BSc degree at the University of Sheffield in 1980. At Lancaster University Management School, he gained an MSc in Operational Research.

He began in the group operational research depart of Cadbury-Schweppes in 1981, being involved in market research and investment projects. In 1984 he joined BTR Industries, again in operational research. He became corporate planning manager for Newey and Eyre (now part of Hagemeyer UK), one of its subsidiaries and an electrical components firm. In 1990 he moved to BPB plc, the British firm which is the world's largest manufacturer of plasterboard and now owned by the French company Saint-Gobain, working in planning. From 1996-8, he was managing director of its Abertay Paper Sacks company at Bucksburn in Aberdeen. He became a group financial controller and president of the Canadian section of the business in 1998 before becoming chief executive in 2000. Under his leadership, he took the company into the FTSE 100, which transformed its market capitalization from £1bn to around £4bn. He sold BPB to Saint-Gobain for £3.9bn in December 2005, after a hostile takeover.

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