Charles Lamb Allen, Baron Allen of Kensington, (born 4 January 1957) is a British businessman and broadcaster, and the chairman of

THG plc THG plc, formerly The Hut Group, is a British e-commerce retail company headquartered at Manchester Airport, England. It sells own-brand and third-party cosmetics, dietary supplements, luxury goods, and licensed and personalised products onlin ...

Global Radio Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrys ...

2 Sisters Food Group 2 Sisters Food Group, a subsidiary of Boparan Holdings Ltd, is a privately owned food manufacturing company with head offices in Birmingham, England primarily focusing on private label manufacturing for retailer and food service markets. Estab ...

, ISS and Advisory chairman at

Moelis & Company Moelis & Company is a global investment bank that provides financial advisory services to corporations, governments, and financial sponsors. The firm advises on strategic decisions such as mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations and restruc ...

. Lord Allen was chief executive of

Granada Group Granada plc (previously called Granada Ltd, Granada Group plc, and Granada Media plc) was a British conglomerate best known as the parent from 1954 to 2004 of the Manchester-based Granada Television. The company merged with Carlton Communicati ...

from 1996 to 2000, executive chairman of Granada Media plc from 2000 to 2004, chief executive of

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 ...

from its formation in 2004 until 2007, and chairman of the music company

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 2012, ...

. He was chairman of Endemol, a non-executive director of Tesco plc and Virgin Media. In March 2012, he was appointed by

Ed Miliband Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliban ...

, the leader of the Labour Party, to the position of chairman of the executive board of the party. He has been chairman of the

British Red Cross The British Red Cross Society is the United Kingdom body of the worldwide neutral and impartial humanitarian network the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with more ...

Education

Allen was educated at Bellshill Academy, a state school in the town of

Bellshill Bellshill (pronounced "Bells hill") is a town in North Lanarkshire in Scotland, southeast of Glasgow city centre and west of Edinburgh. Other nearby localities are Motherwell to the south, Hamilton to the southwest, Viewpark to the w ...

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire ( sco, North Lanrikshire; gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Tuath) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It als ...

in central Scotland. He did not attend university, and says of his life, "It's been an amazing journey considering I left school at 17 with no job to go to".

Career

Allen joined

Granada plc Granada plc (previously called Granada Ltd, Granada Group plc, and Granada Media plc) was a British conglomerate best known as the parent from 1954 to 2004 of the Manchester-based Granada Television. The company merged with Carlton Communicati ...

in 1991, originally as CEO of

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...

, before becoming Group Chief Executive in 1996. During his time at Granada, he was instrumental in the takeover of

Forte Group Forte Group plc was a British hotel and restaurant company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it was acquired by Granada in 1996. Its head office was in the London Borough of Camden. ...

for £3.9 billion in 1996, and the takeovers of

LWT London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...

and

Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television was a British broadcasting company, which is now part of ITV plc. History The company was created in June 1992 from the merger of the Independent Television broadcasters Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television ...

in 1994 and 1999 respectively. In 2001 Granada Group merged with Compass to form Granada Compass, then demerged into Granada Media plc and Compass Group. He remained with Granada when the two companies demerged, and became Executive Chairman of Granada plc in 2001. When Granada merged with

Carlton Communications Carlton was a British media company. It was led by Michael P. Green and listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1983 until 2 February 2004, when it was bought by Granada plc in a corporate takeover to form ITV plc. Carlton shareholders gaine ...

in 2004 to form ITV plc, Allen became the new company's

Chief Executive 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 especial ...

. In 2006, Allen stepped down after fifteen years with the company. From 2006 to 2008, Allen was previously chief advisor to the British Home Office. He has also been a senior advisor to Goldman Sachs Private Equity, non-executive director of

Endemol Endemol B.V. was a Dutch-based media company that produced and distributed multiplatform entertainment content. The company annually produced more than 15,000 hours of programming across scripted and non-scripted genres, including drama, reality ...

and

Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 joint ven ...

and executive chairman of

. As of 2018, he is chairman of ISS Group,

and

Global Group Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrys ...

— which owns Capital, Heart, Classic FM, LBC, Radio X and Gold — as well as advisory chairman of

. Allen chaired the 2002 Commonwealth Games. He was a member of the

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Olympic bid team and a director of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. He was also Mayor of the

Olympic Village An Olympic Village is an accommodation center built for the Olympic Games, usually within an Olympic Park or elsewhere in a host city. Olympic Villages are built to house all participating athletes, as well as officials and athletic trainers. Aft ...

. In May 2021, it was announced that Allen would be the next chairman of the

Balfour Beatty Balfour Beatty plc () is an international infrastructure group based in the United Kingdom with capabilities in construction services, support services and infrastructure investments. A constituent of the FTSE 250 Index, Balfour Beatty works ac ...

construction group, succeeding

Philip Aiken Philip S. Aiken (born 9 January 1949, in Sydney) is an Australian business executive. Aiken holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in chemical engineering from University of Sydney, and has attended the Advanced Management Program from Harv ...

from 20 July 2021. Following criticism of the THG's governance arrangements, Allen replaced Matt Moulding as chairman of THG plc in March 2022.

Honours

Allen was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the 2003 New Year Honours "for services to the

XVII Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coi ...

". He was knighted in the

2012 New Year Honours 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

"for services to the

2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

and

Paralympics The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaired ...

". On 1 August 2013, it was announced that Allen was to become a Labour peer in a list of new appointments to the House of Lords. He was created a

Life Peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

on 2 October 2013 taking the title Baron Allen of Kensington, of Kensington in the

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is an Inner London, Inner London boroughs, London borough with Royal borough, royal status. It is the List of English districts by area, smallest borough in London and the second smallest Districts of ...

. In May 2016, Allen was appointed as a member of the Lords Communications Committee. In 2005 he was awarded the Freedom of the City of Liverpool.

Personal life

Allen lives in Kensington with his partner of more than 20 years, Michael, an architect.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Charles ITV people 1957 births Living people LGBT businesspeople from the United Kingdom LGBT politicians from Scotland LGBT life peers Life peers created by Elizabeth II Labour Party (UK) life peers Scottish businesspeople Knights Bachelor Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Labour Party (UK) officials International Emmy Directorate Award People educated at Bellshill Academy