Peter Martin Harkness (born May 1949) is a British media entrepreneur and investor. Formerly a journalist, he is a director of the business data specialist GlobalData plc.

Early life and childhood

Born in

Hoylake Hoylake is a coast, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is at the north west of the Wirral Peninsula, near West Kirby and where the River Dee, Wales, River Dee meets the Irish Sea. Historic counties of En ...

, Wirral, he attended grammar schools in

Stanley, County Durham Stanley is a former colliery town and civil parish in County Durham, North East England. Centred on a hilltop between Chester-le-Street and Consett, the town lies south west of Gateshead. Stanley was formerly divided into three distinct set ...

and

Rugeley Rugeley ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Cannock Chase District in Staffordshire, England. It lies on the north-eastern edge of Cannock Chase next to the River Trent; it is situated north of Lichfield, south-east of Stafford, nort ...

, Staffordshire, but left school at 16 to become an apprentice in a newspaper office.

Professional career

After a 15 year spell as a journalist in the West Midlands, Harkness became deputy editor of the '' Sunday Mercury'' when he switched to newspaper management. He became managing director of the London Newspaper Group after acquiring it from Yattendon Investment Trust in a 1985. Harkness joined media company Magicalia in the early 2000s and led management teams which have acquired and sold a series of media companies, including the Butler Group, which was sold to

Datamonitor Datamonitor is an international company providing market intelligence, data analysis, and opinion via a worldwide network of in-house analysts. The company tracks Automotive, Consumer Markets, Energy & Utilities, Financial Services, Logistics & E ...

for £11 million, the Midlands magazine group WHY Publications sold to the

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

group for £14 million and Precise Media, sold to

Phoenix Equity Partners Phoenix Equity Partners is a United Kingdom mid-market private equity firm. It specialises in working with management teams to help grow their businesses. It invests in companies valued at up to £150m. History Phoenix was co-founded in 2001 by H ...

for £42 million. In 2009, concerned at the continuing dominance of privately educated pupils from the South of England being accepted at

Oxbridge Oxbridge is a portmanteau of Oxford and Cambridge, the two oldest, wealthiest, and most famous universities in the United Kingdom. The term is used to refer to them collectively, in contrast to other British universities, and more broadly to de ...

colleges, Harkness and his wife Sarah founded a series of bursaries and prizes to encourage applicants from

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 ...

and the North East to apply for places at Mansfield College,

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 ...

. This initiative was in support of Mansfield's Widening Access campaign through which the College had by 2019 seen the percentage of state school pupils admitted to Mansfield rise to 96.1%. Harkness served as a Trustee of

York Museums Trust York Museums Trust (YMT) is the charity responsible for operating some key museums and galleries in York, England. The trust was founded in 2002 to run York's museums on behalf of the City of York Council. It has seen an increase in annual foo ...

from 2010 to 2014. He served as chairman of

The Cheltenham Trust The Cheltenham Trust is a registered charity that manages several cultural and leisure venues in the spa town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. It manages Cheltenham Town Hall, The Wilson (Cheltenham) the town's Art Gallery and Museum, Pit ...

, an arts charity that manages five iconic arts, performance and leisure venues in

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

, from 2014 to 2020. As of November 2021, he has been a trustee for Cogges Heritage Trust. He retired after nine years as Chairman of the listed investment fund, Chrysalis VCT in 2017 and as chairman of the publishing and e-commerce group

My Time Media Holdings My or MY may refer to: Arts and entertainment * My (radio station), a Malaysian radio station * Little My, a fictional character in the Moomins universe * ''My'' (album), by Edyta Górniak * ''My'' (EP), by Cho Mi-yeon Business * Market ...

, which he co-founded and owned with CEO Owen Davies in 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harkness, Peter 1949 births Living people British business executives People from the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral Trustees of York Museums Trust