Sir Anthony John Habgood (born 8 November 1946) is a British businessman. From 1991 to 2005, he was chief executive of

Bunzl Bunzl plc is a British multinational distribution and outsourcing company headquartered in London, England. The activities of the company have changed a number of times during its existence, frequently incorporating the disparate business in ...

. He was also the chairman 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 ...

from 2005 to 2014,

RELX Group 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 of the Court of the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government o ...

. He has been described in the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'' as "the City's go-to grandee."

Early life

Anthony John Habgood was born on 8 November 1946, the son of John Michael Habgood MC and his wife Margaret Diana Middleton, née Dalby. He was educated at

Gresham's School Gresham's School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent Day school, day and boarding school) in Holt, Norfolk, Holt, Norfolk, England, one of the top thirty International Bac ...

, Norfolk. He has a bachelor's degree from

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

(

Gonville and Caius College Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of t ...

), and a master's degree in industrial administration from

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technolog ...

Career

He 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 1970 and became a director in 1977. From 1991 to 2005, Habgood was chief executive, then chairman of

, growing turnover from continuing operations from £500 million to £2.9 billion, and improving profits by a factor of 34, and "is widely credited with transforming Bunzl". Habgood was chairman of Whitbread plc from 2005 to 2014 and of

Mölnlycke Health Care Mölnlycke Health Care is a Swedish medical device company headquartered in Gothenburg and active internationally. The company manufactures and sells wound care and single-use surgical products and is a service provider to the healthcare sector. ...

from 2006 to 2007 while it was owned by the private equity house APAX Partners. He has been chairman of RELX Group (formerly Reed Elsevier), a multinational information and analytics company, since June 2009. He has been chairman of Preqin Holding Limited since November 2011. Past non-executive directorships include NatWest Bank plc, Powergen plc and Marks and Spencer plc He was senior non-executive director of Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust from 2006 until March 2013, and was chair of Norwich Research Park between March 2013 and March 2016. In March 2014, Habgood was appointed chairman of the Court of the Bank of England. Habgood was appointed a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...

in the

2018 New Year Honours The 2018 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to UK Industry.

Views on strategy

Habgood has said that a key factor in strategy is determining which elements of a group portfolio have good growth characteristics, and focusing on these.

Personal life

On 29 May 1974, Habgood married Nancy Atkinson, the daughter of Ray Nelson Atkinson of

San Mateo, California San Mateo ( ; ) is a city in San Mateo County, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula. About 20 miles (32 km) south of San Francisco, the city borders Burlingame to the north, Hillsborough to the west, San Francisco Bay and Foster C ...

, US. They have three children, and split their time between

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament const ...

and

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North ...

References

External links

2010 BBC "The Bottom Line" video interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Habgood, Anthony Living people British chairpersons of corporations 1946 births Tepper School of Business alumni Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge People educated at Gresham's School Dutch chairpersons of corporations Knights Bachelor Bunzl people