Adam Crozier
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Adam Alexander Crozier (born 26 January 1964) is a Scottish businessman, and was formerly the chief executive officer of media company
ITV plc ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom. ITV plc is listed on th ...
, operator of the ITV television network covering most of the United Kingdom. After a career at
Saatchi & Saatchi Saatchi & Saatchi is a British multinational communications and advertising agency network with 114 offices in 76 countries and over 6,500 staff. It was founded in 1970 and is currently headquartered in London. The parent company of the agency gr ...
culminating in the post of joint chief executive in 1995, he came to wide public prominence as the new chief executive of
The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...
in 2000 at the age of 35, before in 2003 becoming the chief executive of the Royal Mail Group, the United Kingdom's mail delivery service, where he oversaw a controversial modernisation and redundancy programme. In January 2010 he was announced as the new chief executive of ITV plc, where he arrived on 26 April 2010. Crozier announced he was leaving this post in June 2017. Crozier became the Chairman of
BT Group BT Group plc ( trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-line, bro ...
Plc on the 1st December 2021.


Early life and education

Crozier was born and raised on the
Isle of Bute The Isle of Bute ( sco, Buit; gd, Eilean Bhòid or '), known as Bute (), is an island in the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, United Kingdom. It is divided into highland and lowland areas by the Highland Boundary Fault. Formerly a constituent is ...
on the west coast of Scotland in 1964.Sharp suit with an iron hand in a woolly glove
''The Guardian'', 11 May 2007]
His father was a manager for John Crichton-Stuart, 6th Marquess of Bute, Lord Bute, and his mother was secretary to the managing director of ''
The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...
''. Crozier went to a school in
Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire council area and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With a population ...
, before moving to Graeme High School, a comprehensive school in
Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had ...
. He graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
degree (BA) in business organisation from
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
's
Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...
. While at school, Crozier had trials with both Hibernian and Stirling Albion football clubs. Crozier received an Honorary Doctorate from
Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...
in 2005.


Career


Early career

Crozier joined
Pedigree Petfoods Pedigree Petfoods is a subsidiary of the American group Mars, Incorporated specializing in pet food, with factories in England at Melton Mowbray and Birstall, West Yorkshire, Birstall, Leeds; and offices at McLean, Virginia. History Manchester ...
as a graduate trainee in 1984. In 1986, he moved 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 f ...
'' to work in media sales.


Saatchi & Saatchi

From 1988 to 1999 Crozier worked for advertising agency
Saatchi and Saatchi Saatchi & Saatchi is a British multinational communications and advertising agency network with 114 offices in 76 countries and over 6,500 staff. It was founded in 1970 and is currently headquartered in London. The parent company of the agency gr ...
, becoming media director in 1990, and then being appointed as joint chief executive from 1995 alongside Tamara Ingram. This occurred in the wake of the departure of the founding Saatchi brothers to form
M&C Saatchi M&C Saatchi Group () is an international communications network headquartered in London, formed in May 1995. With more than 2,400 staff, the network spans 23 countries with major hubs in the UK, Europe, US, Middle East & Africa, Asia and Austral ...
.


The Football Association

Crozier came to public attention as the surprise appointment to the role of chief executive of
The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...
, the governing body of England's national game, football, aged just 35 and having had no experience of business in football. He replaced Graham Kelly. In his short tenure from 2000 to 2002, the FA relocated headquarters from Lancaster Gate to
Soho Square Soho Square is a garden square in Soho, London, hosting since 1954 a ''de facto'' public park let by the Soho Square Garden Committee to Westminster City Council. It was originally called King Square after Charles II, and a much weathered ...
, appointed the first ever foreign England national team manager, Swede
Sven-Göran Eriksson Sven-Göran Eriksson (; born 5 February 1948) is a Swedish football manager and former player. After an unassuming playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management between 1977 and 2001, winning 18 ...
, and became a more commercial organisation, maximising its revenues. He also reduced the average age of the FA's staff from 55 to 32, progressed the
Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...
redevelopment, and reduced the FA's ruling body from a 91-member FA Board to a committee of 12. His moves were not without criticism, with complaints from some about lack of consultation and of acting beyond his powers. He was replaced by
Mark Palios Markos Palios (born 9 November 1952) is an English chartered accountant, football administrator and former professional footballer. In August 2014, it was announced that he and his wife Nicola were taking ownership of Tranmere Rovers F.C., where h ...
. While at the FA, Crozier reportedly identified some members of the England national team as the Golden Generation. It was a term later criticised towards the end of the decade by some England players as having been undeserved, and of causing undue expectations and pressure due to the fact they had at the time, and in years since, failed to win major tournaments.


Royal Mail

Crozier became the chief executive of the Royal Mail Group in February 2003. Entering the post, Crozier described his remit as the "biggest corporate turnaround programme in the UK". Crozier initiated a programme of modernisation and reform, to deal with changes in the service brought about by reforms beginning with the
Postal Services Act 2000 The Postal Services Act 2000 (c.26) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, relating to the postal industry. It established an industry regulator, Postcomm (s.1), a consumer watchdog, Postwatch (s.2), required a "universal service" o ...
. In Crozier's first three years, the Royal Mail division produced record annual profits of £537m in May 2005, making £2m a day in profits, up from £1.5m a day losses before he joined. The Group overall had been transformed from recording losses of £1.1bn at the start of the turnaround plan in 2002 into a profit of £355m in 2005. Royal Mail chairman
Allan Leighton Allan Leighton (born 12 April 1953) is a British businessman, chairman of The Co-operative Group since February 2015, former CEO of Asda, former chief executive of Pandora, and former non-executive chairman of the Royal Mail. He is also the co-o ...
said it was a "fantastic turnaround" but also that there was still "a huge amount to do". The newly formed mail regulator
Postwatch The New National Consumer Council, operating as Consumer Futures, was a non-departmental public body and statutory consumer organisation in England, Wales, Scotland, and, for postal services, Northern Ireland. It was established by the Consumers ...
were however critical that it had failed to achieve 11 of its 15 licence targets during the previous financial year. As the postal service was opened up to competition in early 2006, Royal Mail recorded losses of £10m in 2006 and £279m in 2007. His reforms included highly controversial large scale post office closures in the thousands, layoffs of Royal Mail staff, changes in working practices, and the ending of the second daily delivery and moving the first daily delivery to later in the day.. Royal Mail strikes: Adam Crozier second highest paid public sector boss on £1m
The Daily Telegraph, 2 November 2009
While at the Royal Mail, Crozier's salary, one of the largest in the country for the head of a publicly owned body, was criticised in light of the changes being made to the Royal Mail workforce. Ongoing reforms eventually led to large scale industrial disputes and strike action in both
2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...
and 2009 onwards. Crozier was CEO of Royal Mail at crucial period in the Post Office Scandal when the Post Office was still part of Royal Mail, in which hundreds of sub-postmasters were falsely accused of, and prosecuted for, theft or false accounting. Prosecutions were conducted based on revenue shortfalls identified by the Post Office's Horizon computer system. These were erroneous and the result of bugs and errors in the system. Post Office officials knew about the bugs as early as 2002, but chose to continue with the prosecutions regardless.


ITV

On 28 January 2010, it was announced Adam Crozier would be leaving the Royal Mail later in 2010 to become the next permanent chief executive of media group
ITV plc ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom. ITV plc is listed on th ...
.Adam Crozier to leave Royal Mail later this year to join ITV
Royal Mail Group, 28 January 2010
ITV plc is one of three partners within ITV Network Limited, the not for profit organisation which runs the ITV television network, the United Kingdom's first commercial network effectively created under the
Television Act 1954 The Television Act 1954 was a British law which permitted the creation of the first commercial television network in the United Kingdom, ITV. Until the early 1950s, the only television service in Britain was operated as a monopoly by the Briti ...
. Crozier was replacing
Michael Grade Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth, (born 8 March 1943) is an English television executive and businessman. He has held a number of senior roles in television, including controller of BBC1 (1984–1986), chief executive of Channel 4 (1 ...
, who announced his intention to leave in April 2009. Crozier was given the task of increasing ITV's advertising revenues which had fallen with the proliferation of new channels in the
British television Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection ...
market. On announcing the appointment, ITV chairman
Archie Norman Archibald John Norman (born 1 May 1954) is a British businessman and politician. He is the only person to have been chairman of an FTSE 100 company and a Member of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons (MP) at the same ti ...
said of Crozier that he is a "very strong leader with a great track record in delivering transformational change".


Other roles

Crozier is also a board member of
Camelot Group The Camelot Group is the operator of the UK National Lottery whose current franchise period started in 2009 and runs until February 2024. It has also operated the Illinois State Lottery in the state of Illinois in the United States since 20 ...
, the National Lottery operator, and the
Debenhams Debenhams plc was a British department store chain operating in the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland. It was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and grew to 178 locations across those countries, also owning the Danish ...
retail chain, before it was liquidated. He is also member of the President's Committee of the
Confederation of British Industry The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is a UK business organisation, which in total claims to speak for 190,000 businesses, this is made up of around 1,500 direct members and 188,500 non-members. The non members are represented through the 1 ...
(CBI). He joined the board of
Whitbread Whitbread plc is a multinational British hotel and restaurant company headquartered in Houghton Regis, England. The business was founded as a brewery in 1742, and had become the largest brewery in the world by the 1780s. Its largest division ...
in 2017, becoming a senior independent director that year. In 2018 he succeeded the retiring Richard Baker as Whitbread's chairman. Crozier was the chairman of Vue Cinemas from 2017 to 2020, and the chair of ASOS plc from 2018 to 2021. In February 2020 Crozier was appointed non-executive chairman of Kantar Group. In August 2021, it was announced that Crozier would take over as Chairman of BT, replacing
Jan du Plessis Sir Jan Petrus du Plessis (born 22 January 1954he public profileat all. I will go to enormous lengths not to do public things – because it is just not me."


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crozier, Adam 1964 births Alumni of Heriot-Watt University Chief executives of the Football Association Living people Royal Mail people Scottish businesspeople Scottish chief executives Scottish television executives People from the Isle of Bute People educated at Graeme High School