Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones,

KBE KBE may refer to: * Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters * Knowledge-based engineering Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...

(born 17 March 1946), born in

Wallasey Wallasey () is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England; until 1974, it was part of the historic county of Cheshire. It is situated at the mouth of the River Mersey, at the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Pe ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

(now Merseyside) to a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

family, was the Chairman and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the cosmetics and beauty company L'Oréal from 1988 to 2011. In May 2019, he was ranked as the 292nd richest person in UK by The ''

Sunday Times Rich List The ''Sunday Times Rich List'' is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the United Kingdom ranked by net wealth. The list is updated annually in April and published as a magazine supplement by British national Sunday news ...

'' with a net worth of £467 million.

Education

Owen-Jones went to Uppingham School in Rutland, before going on to study Modern Languages at

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...

, and management at INSEAD. He has recently donated what the Provost termed a transformational £30 million to Worcester College.

Career

He got his first job as a sales representative at L'Oréal in 1969, selling Dop shampoo in Normandy. In 1988, he was appointed

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 ...

and Chief Executive Officer of L'Oréal, at age 42. Under his tenure, L'Oreál has widened its market; turning it from an almost entirely Europe-based organization to sell its products in countries around the world. Lindsay Owen-Jones resigned as Executive Chairman in 2011, but stays on as "Honorary President". Owen-Jones is also a member of the Board of Directors at

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

SpA,

BNP Paribas BNP Paribas is a French international banking group, founded in 2000 from the merger between Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP, "National Bank of Paris") and Paribas, formerly known as the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas. The full name of the grou ...

and Sanofi, and a member of the supervisory board of

Air Liquide Air Liquide S.A. (; ; literally "liquid air"), is a French multinational company which supplies industrial gases and services to various industries including medical, chemical and electronic manufacturers. Founded in 1902, after Linde it is ...

. A successful "gentleman" racing driver in sports and GT cars for many years, he is currently President of the FIA's Endurance Commission.

Awards

Owen-Jones is a Commandeur of the Légion d'Honneur and a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In 2002, he was named "Best European

Manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

" by the Spanish '' Futuro'' magazine, and the U.S. magazine ''

Business Week ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

'' named him one of Europe's "Business Stars". Owen-Jones became the first foreign head of a French company to be awarded the "Manager of the Year 2002 Award" from French Prime Minister

Jean-Pierre Raffarin Jean-Pierre Raffarin (; born 3 August 1948) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 6 May 2002 to 31 May 2005. He resigned after France's rejection of the referendum on the European Union draft constitution. Howeve ...

. In 2004, Owen-Jones was named one of the "25 Most Influential People in Fashion" by '' Time Magazine''. He was the only British head of a company listed on Paris's

CAC 40 The CAC 40 (french: CAC quarante ) (''Cotation Assistée en Continu'') is a benchmark French stock market index. The index represents a capitalization-weighted measure of the 40 most significant stocks among the 100 largest market caps on the E ...

. In April 2005, Lindsay Owen-Jones was recognised for his significant contribution to France when he was decorated by the French Minister of Foreign Affairs as Commander of the Légion d’Honneur. In 2005, he was awarded Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.

References

External links

Business Week article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Owen-Jones, Lindsay 1946 births Living people Welsh chief executives People educated at Uppingham School Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford INSEAD alumni 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers L'Oréal people Commanders of the Legion of Honour