Richard Robinson
A commercially driven executive with full P&L experience running a £100m turnover , £1bn asset base business. As Managing Director of Heathrow Express – a business unit of BAA Heathrow – Richard is gaining further board-level experience in a complex regulatory environment on the executive team of Heathrow Airport, one of the UK's key strategic assets.
- Richard describes himself as being the beneficiary of a "top-class engineering education", first at Nottingham University, then during an eight-year spell with ICI Acrylics, where he progressed rapidly through the ranks of technical and operational management.
- When ICI Acrylics was subject to a buy-out by Charterhouse Development Capital in 1999, the business management-led turnaround inspired Richard to look beyond technical roles.
- Richard’s decision to take a business qualification was supported by the Sainsbury Management Fellowship award. This helped Richard undertake an MBA in general management and venture finance in HEC, Paris, where he won an exchange programme place at Stern School of Business, New York
- On completion of the MBA, Richard immediately began a new role as Operations Director for a subsidiary of Anglo American, where he was brought in to turn around the company's manufacturing operations.
- Following a successful recovery in profit through performance improvement in the manufacturing business, Richard was headhunted by a US investor to lead a consumer facing start up business.
- This experience with brand building and business development led to the role of Managing Director of Heathrow Express, a well known business superbrand and leading train operating company.
- Richard believes that first hand experience of modern sales and marketing techniques, coupled with an engineer's natural understanding of the operational and technical side of business, provide the perfect platform of skills for senior business leadership roles.
Topics for comment:
xinnovation
x‘start-up’ experience
xbusiness funding
xe-commerce
•international business development
xwomen in business
•creative career development
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