Andy Hornby
Andy Hornby | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 21, 1967 Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England |
| Occupation | Business executive |
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Known for | CEO of The Restaurant Group; former CEO of Alliance Boots, HBOS, Coral; COO of Ladbrokes Coral and GVC Holdings |
Andy Hornby (born 21 January 1967) is a British business executive currently serving as the chief executive officer of The Restaurant Group, a prominent UK-based restaurant and pub chain.
Biography
Born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, Hornby grew up in Bristol, where his father held the position of headmaster at Clifton College Preparatory School.[1]
Hornby holds the role of CEO at The Restaurant Group (TRG). Prior to this, he was co-chief operating officer at GVC Holdings and chief operating officer at Ladbrokes Coral. His previous leadership positions include CEO of Coral and Chairman of Pharmacy2U. He also served as Group CEO for both Alliance Boots and Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS). Early in his career, Hornby held senior management roles at Asda, including Retail managing director and managing director of the "George" clothing brand. Academically, he earned a degree in English literature from St Peter's College, Oxford and completed an MBA at Harvard Business School, graduating top of a class comprising 800 students.
Career
Hornby initiated his professional journey at Boston Consulting Group, concentrating on retail, consumer goods, and financial industries. Following his MBA, he joined Blue Circle Industries in general management capacities. Subsequently, he moved to Asda under CEO Archie Norman, where he fulfilled roles such as Director of Corporate Development, Retail managing director responsible for 36 stores and 14,000 staff, and managing director of George during the tenure of CEO Allan Leighton. At the age of 32 in 1999, Hornby was appointed to the Asda Management Board.
In November 1999, he assumed the position of chief executive for Retail at Halifax, later overseeing HBOS Retail following the 2001 merger with Bank of Scotland. He advanced to HBOS chief operating officer in 2005 and was promoted to Group chief executive in 2006, a role he held until Lloyds TSB acquired HBOS. Additionally, Hornby spent five years as a non-executive director and chaired the Remuneration Committee at Home Retail Group (previously GUS Plc) until July 2009.
On 1 July 2009, Hornby took on the role of Group chief executive at Alliance Boots, a global health and beauty pharmacy enterprise employing over 115,000 people across more than twenty countries. He resigned from this post in March 2011 and became CEO of Coral in July that year. At Coral, he managed a network comprising approximately 1,750 betting shops alongside interactive betting services accessible via internet, telephone, and mobile devices. Hornby continued as Coral’s CEO until 2016 when he transitioned to chief operating officer of Ladbrokes Coral following the merger between Ladbrokes and Gala Coral.
In June 2012, Hornby was named chairman of Pharmacy2U, an online pharmacy specializing in mail-order services, while maintaining his responsibilities at Coral. During his chairmanship, he collaborated with the board to refine strategic initiatives amid a growth period but departed in 2017 after a majority stake was sold to private equity investors.
In April 2013, The Banking Standards Commission recommended that regulators consider barring Hornby along with two other former HBOS executives from future roles within the financial sector due to their accountability for HBOS’s collapse in 2008, which was attributed to significant management failures.
Hornby joined GVC Holdings as joint COO in 2018 following GVC’s acquisition of Ladbrokes Coral. He left GVC in July 2019 after being appointed CEO of The Restaurant Group and joined its Board on 1 August 2019.
Timeline
| Year | Position |
|---|---|
| 1988 | Boston Consulting Group
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| 1993 | Blue Circle Industries
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| 1996 | Asda
Positions held:
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| 1999 | Halifax
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| 2001 | HBOS
Positions held:
|
| 2004 | Home Retail Group (previously GUS plc)
Positions held:
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| 2009 | Alliance Boots
Position:
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| 2011 | Coral
Position:
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| 2012 | Pharmacy2U
Position:
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| 2016 | Ladbrokes Coral
Position:
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| 2018 | GVC Holdings
Position:
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| 2019 | The Restaurant Group
Position:
|
Gala Coral
Andy Hornby assumed the role of chief executive at Gala Coral Group on 18 July 2011.
Alliance Boots
On 1 July 2009, Hornby was appointed Group Chief Executive of Alliance Boots, collaborating closely with Stefano Pessina and senior executives including Ornella Barra, Alex Gourlay, George Fairweather, and Marco Pagni. He resigned on 25 March 2011 and received a £450,000 compensation package to prevent him from joining a competitor.
HBOS
Hornby began his tenure at Halifax on 1 November 1999 as chief executive of its Retail division. Following the merger with Bank of Scotland in September 2001, he became chief executive of HBOS plc’s Retail Division. He was promoted to chief operating officer in July 2005 and then to group chief executive in July 2006, succeeding James Crosby. As CEO during the financial crisis of 2008, Hornby oversaw HBOS’s near-collapse and subsequent acquisition by rival Lloyds TSB. The bank reported a pre-tax loss of £10.8 billion for that year. Hornby continued with Lloyds under a consultancy agreement. On 10 February 2009, he and former HBOS chairman Lord Stevenson of Coddenham appeared before the Treasury Select Committee in the House of Commons, where MPs reproached Hornby for not taking personal accountability for HBOS’s failure during the crisis.
Asda
Between 1996 and 1999, Hornby worked at Asda, a leading UK retailer owned by American company Wal-Mart. He initially served as Director of Corporate Development before advancing to Retail Managing Director and subsequently Managing Director of the George clothing brand. Hornby remarked that he transitioned into new roles approximately every eighteen months, covering areas such as investor relations, store operations, and leadership within George.
Blue Circle Industries
Blue Circle Industries, originally established in 1900 under the name Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers Ltd, was situated near the Thames estuary close to London. In 2001, Lafarge acquired the company, resulting in the formation of the largest cement producer worldwide.
Boston Consulting Group
Hornby initiated his professional journey with Boston Consulting Group.
Speaking engagements
On 18 May 2010, Hornby delivered the Annual Retail Lecture for the British Retail Consortium, titled Retailing…what's changed with the credit crunch?. Later, in June 2010, he spoke on Managing a business after the credit crunch as part of Manchester Business School’s Vital Topics lecture series.
See also
External links
- Alliance Boots
- The Guardian article, 29 April 2008
- The Guardian article, 19 February 2005
- Halifax Courier, 14 October 2008
Video clips
- Robert Peston interview on Leading Questions, September 2008
- Jeff Randall interview on Sky News, 17 May 2010
- Chemist and Druggist interview with Hornby
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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- 1967 births
- Living people
- British chief executives of financial services companies
- People from Scarborough, North Yorkshire
- Businesspeople from Bristol
- People educated at Clifton College
- Alumni of St Peter's College, Oxford
- Harvard Business School alumni
- English chief executives
- Boston Consulting Group people
- British chief operating officers
- Asda people