Phil Popham is a British
Business man
A businessperson, also referred to as a businessman or businesswoman, is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial ...
who has mainly been employed in the
automotive industry
The automotive industry comprises a wide range of company, companies and organizations involved in the design, Business development, development, manufacturing, marketing, selling, Maintenance, repairing, and Custom car, modification of motor ve ...
. He had a long career at
Jaguar Land Rover
Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC is the holding company of Jaguar Land Rover, also known as JLR, and is a British multinational automobile manufacturer which produces luxury vehicles and SUVs and has its head office in Whitley, Coventry, Unite ...
, and latterly was the
chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization.
CEOs find roles in variou ...
of
Lotus Cars
Lotus Group (also known as Lotus Cars) is a British multinational automotive manufacturer of luxury sports cars and electric vehicles.
Lotus Group is composed of three primary entities. Lotus Cars, a high-performance sports car company, is ba ...
. He has also been CEO of
Sunseeker
Sunseeker International is a British luxury performance motor yacht brand. Originally named Poole Power Boats, the company was founded by brothers Robert and John Braithwaite in 1969. The company changed its name to Sunseeker International i ...
during his career.
Background
He was born in 1965 in
Redditch
Redditch is a town and non-metropolitan district with borough status in Worcestershire, England. It is located south of Birmingham, east of Bromsgrove, north-west of Alcester and north-east of Worcester. In 2021, the town had a population of ...
,
[Caponetto, Nico, Yachting Media, “Sunseeker CEO Phil Popham Tells The Rebirth Of The Brand”, 24 February 2017]
accessed 29 May 2021 Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, and graduated with a BSc (Hons) in
management
Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...
studies from the
University of Aston,
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
.
[Jaguar Land Rover Japan Media Centre, “Phil Popham CV”]
accessed 29 May 2021
Career
Jaguar Land Rover
Having joined
Land Rover
Land Rover is a brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by British multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR builds Land Rovers in Brazil ...
as a graduate
trainee
A trainee is commonly known as an individual taking part in a trainee program within an organization after having graduated from technical and higher courses.
A trainee is an official employee of the firm that is being trained to the job they we ...
in 1988, Popham held a number of senior positions in the company including Director of Land Rover European Operations, marketing director for Land Rover
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
, and Vice President of Marketing for Land Rover North America.
[Jaguar Land Rover Newsroom, “Phil Popham, Group Sales Director”, 1 December 2011]
accessed 29 May 2021
He briefly joined
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWCV; , abbreviated ''VWN'' ) is a German brand, marque of light commercial vehicles, owned by Volkswagen Group. It is headquartered in Hannover, Lower Saxony, Germany. Originally part of Volkswagen Passenger ...
in the UK in 1999 before returning to Land Rover to become UK Sales Director in 2001. Two years of record sales followed and saw him promoted to become managing director of both
Jaguar
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...
and Land Rover UK national sales companies in 2003.
In 2006, following the departure of Matthew Taylor, Popham was promoted to a board level role as Land Rover Global Managing Director where he was responsible for the sales and marketing operations of Land Rover globally. He held this role until 2010, when he became Global Sales and Service Operations Director, with responsibility for the global sales and after sales operations of both brands, overseeing the regional business units and worldwide dealer network.
[Jaguar Land Rover Newsroom, “Jaguar Land Rover strengthens voice of customer at board level”, 18 October 2010]
accessed 29 May 2021 During his time as Jaguar Land Rover sales director, overall sales increased significantly fuelled by increased demand for the Land Rover product lines as
sport utility vehicle
A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive.
There is no commonly agreed-upon definitio ...
s gained popularity, and the business expanding into a number of global markets, most notably
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
.
In 2013, he moved to his final role at Jaguar Land Rover to become Group Marketing Director with responsibility for all global marketing activity for both brands, including product marketing, consumer insight, communications, and experiential.
[Post Online Media, “Jaguar Land Rover appoints Phil Popham group marketing director, announces executive changes”, 29 August 2013]
accessed 29 May 2021
Sunseeker
In 2014, Popham announced his intention to leave Jaguar Land Rover to become CEO of luxury boat manufacturer, Sunseeker.
[Jaguar Land Rover Newsroom, “Jaguar Land Rover’s Group Marketing Director Phil Popham to become CEO of Sunseeker”, 28 November 2014]
accessed 29 May 2021 He joined Sunseeker in 2015, and sought to turnaround a business which had posted losses for 2014. By 2016, he had successfully developed and executed a turnaround plan which saw the business return to profitability, ahead of schedule following a number of challenging years.
[Jackson, Rory, SuperyachtNews, “Phil Popham steps down as Sunseeker CEO”, 29 August 2018]
accessed 29 May 2021 He announced his intention to leave Sunseeker in 2018 to pursue other opportunities
[Frampton, Will, Bournemouth Echo, “Sunseeker chief executive Phil Popham leaving company to ‘pursue other challenges’”]
accessed 29 May 2021 and in comments by owners
Dalian Wanda made at the time, credited with leaving the business in a very healthy position and record order book.
Lotus Cars
In October 2018, Popham returned to the automotive industry, and was appointed Senior Vice President Commercial Operations for Group Lotus, and CEO of Lotus Cars.
[Lotus Cars, “Lotus Appoints Phil Popham as Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations for Group Lotus and CEO, Lotus Cars”, September 2018]
accessed 29 May 2021 At Lotus, he set about devising another turnaround strategy for a company owned by Chinese investors, with
Geely
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd. (ZGH), commonly known as Geely Holding ( ; ), is a Chinese multinational automotive conglomerate headquartered in Hangzhou, China. The company was founded by, and is privately owned by Chinese entrepre ...
having taken majority control of Lotus in 2017. He developed and implemented Lotus Cars’ Vision80 strategy which will see transformational change across the company including a complete transformation and unprecedented investment at Lotus’ headquarters in
Hethel
Hethel is a small village in the civil parish of Bracon Ash, in the English county of Norfolk.
Hethel is located south-east of the market town of Wymondham, and approximately south of the city of Norwich.
History
Hethel's name is of Angl ...
,
Norfolk
Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
including wholesale upgrades across the site, a new sports car factory and hypercar assembly.
[Lotus Cars, “Phil Popham Steps Down At Lotus Cars”, 28 January 2021]
accessed 29 May 2021 Product wise he spearheaded the launch of the
Lotus Evija and announced the discontinuation of the
Lotus Elise
The Lotus Elise is a sports car conceived in early 1994 and released in September 1996 by the British manufacturer Lotus Cars. A two-seater Roadster (automobile), roadster with a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, the Elise has a fibregl ...
,
Exige, and
Evora to be replaced by a new Lotus, dubbed “Type 131”.
[Lotus Cars, “A New Year And A New Future”, 25 January 2021]
, accessed 29 May 2021 Shortly after this announcement, Popham announced his intention to step down as CEO in March 2021 to pursue personal projects.
[Lotus Cars, “Matt Windle appointed MD Lotus Cars” 28 January 2021]
accessed 29 May 2021
Personal
Popham is married with two children and lives in
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...
and supports
West Bromwich Albion F.C.
West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...
[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Popham, Phil
1966 births
Living people
Alumni of Aston University
Land Rover
Lotus Cars
People from Redditch
Chief executives in the automobile industry
English chief executives
Jaguar Land Rover people