Former Marks & Spencer Chairman to deliver public lecture
Posted on 24 January 2013
A champion of green issues, the former Chairman of Marks & Spencer plc and newly appointed Chairman of online grocer Ocado will deliver the Cantor Business Lecture on Tuesday, 29 January.
Sir Stuart has worked in retail for 40 years, starting at Marks & Spencer plc in 1972 and joining the Burton Group in 1989. Following the group’s demerger in 1997, he became Chief Executive of Argos plc, then Chief Executive of Booker plc and Arcadia Group plc.
He returned to Marks & Spencer in 2004 as Chief Executive, becoming Chairman in 2008. After standing down in 2011, he was appointed Chairman of Blue Inc in June 2012. He will join Ocado in March as Non-Executive Director, and take up the chairmanship in May.
Sir Stuart was knighted in 2008 for services to the retail industry and corporate social responsibility.
The 2013 Cantor Business Lecture is hosted by the York Management School.
Bob Doherty, Professor of Marketing at the York Management School, said: “Sir Stuart has had an enormously successful career with some of the most iconic retail brands in the UK. Hearing how Sir Stuart has led major sustainability initiatives such as PLAN A, promises to be a chance to listen to a real pioneer in progressive management.”
Hearing how Sir Stuart has led major sustainability initiatives such as PLAN A, promises to be a chance to listen to a real pioneer in progressive management
Bob Doherty
This is the second Cantor Business Lecture. The inaugural lecture was delivered by Caroline Thomson, BBC Chief Operating Officer, in 2011 to coincide with the opening of the stunning Law and Management Building. The building is one of four major academic buildings in the first phase of the University’s £750 million campus extension at Heslington East, one of the biggest capital developments in UK higher education in recent years.
The Cantor Book Prizes – presented to the most deserving first-year students in the York Management School and the York Law School - will be awarded alongside the 2013 Cantor Business Lecture.
The 2013 Cantor Business Lecture, ‘The sustainability challenge for big business’, will take place at the Ron Cooke Hub Auditorium on Tuesday, 29 January at 6.45pm.
This event is now fully booked.
Notes to editors:
- The University hosts a series of public lectures covering a wide variety of subjects every year. A complete list is available at www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/
- More information on the York Management School at the University of York is available at www.york.ac.uk/management/
- For more information on the York Law School at the University of York visit www.york.ac.uk/law/
- The University of York’s £750 million campus extension at Heslington East is one of the biggest capital developments in UK higher education in recent years. Its development was supported by investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in Yorkshire and the Humber, part of a major infrastructure project led by Science City York to extend the assets and strategic potential of York as a leading centre for science and innovation. Visit www.york.ac.uk/campus-development/
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