Paul Adrian Barlow Beecroft (born
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
, 20 May 1947) is a
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
venture capitalist
Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which hav ...
based in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. He was for many years
Chief Investment Officer The chief investment officer (CIO) is a job title for the board level head of investments within an organization. The CIO's purpose is to understand, manage, and monitor their organization's portfolio of assets, devise strategies for growth, act as ...
of the
private equity
In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...
group
Apax
Apax Partners LLP is a British private equity firm, headquartered in London, England. The company also operates out of six other offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Munich and Shanghai. As of December 2017, the firm, including its ...
. He was until recently
Chairman
The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...
of Dawn Capital.
Among the companies in which Beecroft has personally invested are
Mimecast
Mimecast Limited is an American–British, Jersey-domiciled company specializing in cloud-based email management for Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Office 365, including security, archiving, and continuity services to protect business mai ...
and Insignis.
Beecroft has donated more than £500,000 to the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
since 2006.
Early life and education
Adrian Beecroft was born and raised in
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
. He studied at
Hymers College
Hymers College is a co-educational independent day school in Kingston upon Hull, located on the site of the old Botanical Gardens. It is one of the leading schools in the East Riding of Yorkshire and a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistres ...
in
Hull.
He graduated from
Queen's College, Oxford
The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...
with a first class honours degree in
Physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
in 1968 and is now an Honorary Fellow of the College.
In 1976, he gained an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he studied as a
Harkness Fellow
The Harkness Fellowship (previously known as the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship) is a program run by the Commonwealth Fund of New York City. This fellowship was established to reciprocate the Rhodes Scholarships and enable Fellows from several coun ...
.
He graduated from Harvard as a
Baker Scholar
Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA ...
.
Career
Adrian Beecroft has an extensive career in venture capital and private equity, specialising in IT investments.
He was the Chairman of the
British Venture Capital Association
The British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, sometimes known simply as the British Venture Capital Association, or BVCA, is a trade organisation for the private equity and venture capital industry in the United Kingdom. It was found ...
in 1991.
Beecroft started his career at
ICL, in the computer industry.
In 1973, he moved to Ocean Transport and Trading Ltd., working to develop their new business area of bulk shipping.
After graduating from
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...
, Beecroft joined
Boston Consulting Group
Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG) is an American global management consulting firm founded in 1963 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the Big Three (or MBB, the world’s three largest management consulting firms by rev ...
in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. He became Vice President of BCG in 1982.
In 1984, Beecroft joined Apax Partners and was there for 25 years until he retired from his role as
Chief Investment Officer The chief investment officer (CIO) is a job title for the board level head of investments within an organization. The CIO's purpose is to understand, manage, and monitor their organization's portfolio of assets, devise strategies for growth, act as ...
in 2008.
In December 2006, Beecroft was appointed to the
NESTA
Nesta (formerly NESTA, National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) is an innovation foundation based in the UK.
The organisation acts through a combination of programmes, investment, policy and research, and the formation of part ...
Investment Committee. At that time, NESTA was still a
QUANGO
A quango or QUANGO (less often QuANGO or QANGO) is an organisation to which a government has devolved power, but which is still partly controlled and/or financed by government bodies. The term was originally a shortening of "quasi-NGO", where NG ...
.
Beecroft was awarded the BVCA's Hall of Fame honour at the Private Equity Awards in 2009.
He was a member of
Sir David Walker's committee on improving the transparency of the private equity industry.
In 2010, Beecroft joined Dawn Capital as the Chairman of their board.
Beecroft Report and controversy
On 21 May 2012, the
Beecroft Report The Beecroft Report was an independent report on employment law published in the United Kingdom that recommended making it easier to sack workers. Critics of the report written by Adrian Beecroft
Paul Adrian Barlow Beecroft (born Yorkshire, 20 ...
caused considerable controversy in the UK due to its recommendations to relax regulation surrounding the dismissal of employees. The report claimed this would help to boost the economy. It was alleged that significant sections of the report had been doctored.
It was also reported that some recommendations had been removed from the original draft of the report.
On 21 May,
Secretary of State for Business
The Secretary of State for Business and Trade, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Department for Business and Trade. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.
T ...
Vince Cable
Sir John Vincent Cable (born 9 May 1943) is a British politician who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2017 to 2019. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Twickenham from 1997 to 2015 and from 2017 to 2019. He also served in the Cabinet a ...
condemned the report, saying it was unnecessary for the government to scare workers. Beecroft responded by accusing Cable of being a socialist. He referenced his own experience of having to pay £150,000 for unfairly dismissing an HR employee as one of the many reasons behind the recommendation in the report.
Philanthropy
![Beecroft Bldg Oxford](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Beecroft_Bldg_Oxford.jpg)
Beecroft helped to found and funds the Beecroft Institute of Particle Physics and Cosmology (BIPAC)
at
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. He has also part-funded the
Beecroft Building, part of the
Department of Physics
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
in Oxford. This new building is specifically focused on
theoretical
A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be ...
,
condensed matter
Condensed matter physics is the field of physics that deals with the macroscopic and microscopic physical properties of matter, especially the solid and liquid phases which arise from electromagnetic forces between atoms. More generally, the su ...
and
quantum
In physics, a quantum (plural quanta) is the minimum amount of any physical entity (physical property) involved in an interaction. The fundamental notion that a physical property can be "quantized" is referred to as "the hypothesis of quantizati ...
physics. According to ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'', the funding for this building was inspired by Beecroft's interest in
astrophysics
Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline said, Astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the h ...
.
Beecroft has supported his school, Hymer's College in Hull.
He has also been a Trustee of Impetus Trust, a social impact charity.
Beecroft was also for six years the Chairman of the Cricket Foundation, now known as
Chance to Shine, a charity focused on bringing cricket back into British state school education.
Through the Beecroft Trust, Adrian and his wife sponsor the
Oxford Academy, an Academy school serving a very deprived area of Oxford. Since becoming an Academy school in 2010, its results have improved dramatically from 14% of the students achieving five A* to C grades including English and Maths to 56% achieving this in 2017. However, in 2019, only 17% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above at GCSE and the school had the worst Attainment 8 and Progress 8 scores of any mainstream school in Oxfordshire. In December 2019, the Head and governing body were removed after an
OFSTED
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...
inspection.
Mr Beecroft has also supported the
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
initiative to preserve the
Belize Barrier Reef
The Belize Barrier Reef is a series of coral reefs straddling the coast of Belize, roughly offshore in the north and in the south within the country limits. The Belize Barrier Reef is a long section of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, ...
Reserve System, which was classified as in danger on the UNESCO List of World Heritage in Danger in 2009. As of June 2018, the
World Heritage Committee
The World Heritage Committee selects the sites to be listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger, defines the use of the World Heritage Fund and allocates financial assistance ...
decided to remove the Belize Barrier Reef, which is the world's second largest coral reef, from the list.
Personal life
![Aston Martin DBR1 Adrian Beecroft](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Aston_Martin_DBR1_Adrian_Beecroft.jpg)
Beecroft lives in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and supports
Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...
as a
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...
(MCC) Trustee.
As a trustee one of his core roles is assisting with the appointment of the Chairman, but also overseeing the wellbeing of the club and cricket ground. His enthusiasm for the sport came from watching the
Yorkshire County team play in Hull.
He is the President of Cropredy Cricket Club for whom he still plays league cricket.
Beecroft is a supporter of the
North Yorkshire Moors Railway
The North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) is a heritage railway in North Yorkshire, England, that runs through the North York Moors National Park. First opened in 1836 as the Whitby and Pickering Railway, the railway was planned in 1831 by Geor ...
of which he is a Vice-President. He is a keen auto-enthusiast, having an extensive collection of vehicles, including several
Aston Martin
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with ...
s, most notably a
DBR1 which he races at a number of motoring events and later crashed in 2015.
He is a governor of
Hymers College
Hymers College is a co-educational independent day school in Kingston upon Hull, located on the site of the old Botanical Gardens. It is one of the leading schools in the East Riding of Yorkshire and a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistres ...
in Hull.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beecroft, Adrian
1947 births
Living people
People from Yorkshire
People educated at Hymers College
Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford
Harvard Business School alumni
Harkness Fellows
Angel investors
British businesspeople
Conservative Party (UK) people
Chief investment officers