![official portrait of Lord Kalms crop 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Official_portrait_of_Lord_Kalms_crop_2.jpg)
Harold Stanley Kalms, Baron Kalms (born 21 November 1931) is the life president and former chairman of
Currys plc
Currys plc, formerly Dixons Carphone plc, is a British multinational electrical and telecommunications retailer and services company headquartered in London, England. It was formed on 7 August 2014 by the merger of Dixons Retail and Carphone ...
(formerly DSG International plc, Dixons Group, Dixons Carphone). Currys plc owns
Currys
Currys (branded as Currys PC World between 2010 and 2021) is an electrical retailer and aftercare service provider operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, specialising in white goods, consumer electronics, computers and mobile phones.
E ...
, as well as the now phased-out brands "
PC World
''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online only publication.
It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tech ...
", "Team Knowhow" (in-house services) and various international electronics retailers. Dixons Retail merged with Carphone Warehouse in October 2014 to become Dixons Carphone (later Currys plc). He spent his entire career from 1948 working for Dixons, which was founded by his father
Charles Kalms
Charles Kalms (1898?-1978) was a British retailer and founder of the Dixons chains that expanded to become the UK's largest electrical retail chain.
Career
Kalms opened the first Dixons photographic studio at 32 High Street, Southend-on-Sea. Th ...
in 1937.
He was Chairman of
Volvere plc, a British
turnaround group, from 2002 – 2011.
Background
Stanley Kalms was educated at
Christ's College, Finchley
Christ's College is a secondary school with academy status in East Finchley, London, United Kingdom. It falls under the London Borough of Barnet Local Education Authority for admissions. Since September 2018, Christ’s College Finchley has off ...
. He has been married to Pamela for 67 years. They have three children, Richard, Stephen and Paul as well as eight grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren. He has a second home in Portugal.
Career
Kalms joined Dixons in 1948 at the age of 16 and over the years grew the company from a one-store family business into Europe's leading specialist electrical retailer. Kalms was appointed Chairman of the Dixons Group plc in 1971.
He was also a Governor of
Dixons City Academy in Bradford, West Yorkshire (where an art theatre complex is named in his honour), a Director of Business for Sterling, and a Director of the
National Institute of Economic and Social Research
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), established in 1938, is Britain's oldest independent economic research institute. The institute is a London-based independent UK registered charity that carries out academic researc ...
.
Charitable activities
Kalms is also involved in many private charitable activities including the setting up of the Stanley Kalms Foundation in London and previously the Stanley Kalms Readership in Business Ethics and Strategic Management at
University of North London
The University of North London (UNL) was a university in London, England, formed from the Polytechnic of North London (PNL) in 1992 when that institution was granted university status. PNL, in turn, had been formed by the amalgamation of the No ...
. He was Chairman of King's Healthcare NHS Trust from 1993 to 1996. He was also involved in the
King's Hospital
The Hospital and Free School of King Charles II, Oxmantown, also called The King's Hospital (KH; ) is a Church of Ireland co-educational independent day and boarding school situated in Palmerstown, Dublin, Ireland. It is on an 80-acre campus be ...
ISLET
Diabetes
Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...
Research Programme.
Publications
Kalms has written in the press on the subjects of
European Monetary Union
The economic and monetary union (EMU) of the European Union is a group of policies aimed at converging the economies of member states of the European Union at three stages.
There are three stages of the EMU, each of which consists of progr ...
(EMU), and on
Corporate Governance
Corporate governance is defined, described or delineated in diverse ways, depending on the writer's purpose. Writers focused on a disciplinary interest or context (such as accounting, finance, law, or management) often adopt narrow definitions th ...
; and a book – ''A Time to Change'' – a review of the activities of the
United Synagogue
The United Synagogue (US) is a union of United Kingdom, British Orthodox Jewish synagogues, representing the central Orthodox movement in Judaism. With 62 congregations (including 7 affiliates and 1 associate, ), comprising 40,000 members, it ...
(1996).
Politics
Kalms was treasurer of 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 ...
, 2001–3.
Like many in the party, he opposed the
euro
The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
. Kalms, who is Jewish, attacked
William Hague
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
for his position on the Israel attack in
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
, calling him an "ignorant armchair critic" and that remarks were "downright dangerous". He was expelled from the party in 2009 after voting for
UKIP
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest p ...
and is currently
non-affiliated.
He was the Director of the
Centre for Policy Studies
The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) is a think tank and pressure group in the United Kingdom. Its goal is to promote coherent and practical policies based on its founding principles of: free markets, "small state," low tax, national independe ...
(CPS)
think tank
A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...
from 1991 to 2001.
He is a member of the Advisory Board of
United Against Nuclear Iran
United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a bi-partisan, non-profit advocacy organization in the United States. Its stated objective is to "prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons." Along wi ...
which is an advocacy organization closely tied to neoconservative and other “pro-Israel” factions that promotes a confrontational U.S. stance towards Iran, particularly with respect to its nuclear program.
Kalms is a member of the Savile Club and Portland Club. The Stanley Kalms Foundation gave £100,000 to the neoconservative
Henry Jackson Society
The Henry Jackson Society (HJS) is a trans-Atlantic foreign policy and national security think tank, based in the United Kingdom. While describing itself as non-partisan, its outlook has been described variously as neoliberal and as neoconser ...
in 2013.
Honours
Kalms has close connections to the
University of Buckingham
, mottoeng = Flying on Our Own Wings
, established = 1973; as university college1983; as university
, type = Private
, endowment =
, administrative_staff = 97 academic, 103 support
, chance ...
. He received an
honorary degree
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...
from Buckingham,
and
Chris Woodhead
Sir Christopher Anthony Woodhead (20 October 1946 – 23 June 2015) was a British educationalist. He was Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools in England from 1994 to 2000, and was one of the most controversial figures in debates on the di ...
was the Sir Stanley Kalms Professor of Education. He received his
knighthood
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
in the 1996 New Years Honours for his services to the electrical retailing industry and made a life peer as Baron Kalms, of
Edgware
Edgware () is a suburban town in northern Greater London, mostly in the London Borough of Barnet but with small parts falling in the London Borough of Harrow and in the London Borough of Brent. Edgware is centred north-northwest of Charing Cros ...
in the
London Borough of Barnet
The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban London boroughs, London borough in North London. The borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It forms part of Outer London and is the largest ...
in 2004.
Further reading
KALMS, Sir (Harold) StanleyInternational Who's Who. accessed September 4, 2006.
*
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalms, Stanley
1931 births
British businesspeople in retailing
British Eurosceptics
British Jews
Conservative Party (UK) life peers
English businesspeople
Jewish British politicians
Knights Bachelor
Life peers
Living people
People associated with the University of Buckingham
People educated at Christ's College, Finchley
Life peers created by Elizabeth II