Allan Leighton is a British businessman who has spearheaded some of the country’s most loved retail brands. From Pandora and Asda to Mars and Lastminute.com, Allan has used his practical expertise to create better businesses and turn businesses around from failure. Today, Allan is often booked as a keynote speaker for a range of corporate events, sharing his expertise on business management, leadership, change management and business strategy to budding audiences.
Throughout his career, Allan has worked for a number of respectable companies. Allan is best known for the time he spent as the CEO of Asda, initially joining the company as a Group Marketing Director. During his time with Asda, Allan was able to turnaround the company from failure to a highly successful company, ultimately sold to Walmart for over £6 billion. Allan is also well known for being the former Chief Executive of Pandora and the Non-Executive Chairman of the Royal Mail.
At the start of his career, Allan began working as a cashier for Lloyds Bank. Finding his feet in the world of business, Allan moved on to work as a salesman for Mars, where he continued to work for 18 years of his career. Working his way through the ranks at Mars, Allan was later appointed General Sales Manager and the Managing Director of Mars for Ireland and Portugal. Allan is widely remembered for his time at Mars and recognised as the youngest director of Mars globally. Allan accounts for a huge amount of his success as a businessman to Mars, where he was able to understand the inner workings of business.
Since leaving Asda and Mars, Allan has worked in a number of other roles. He has since been a Non-Executive Chairman of Lastminute.com, Chairman of Simba Sleep, Non-Executive Director of BSkyB and a Non-executive Director of Wilson Connolly and Scottish Power. Currently, Allan is the Chairman of the Co-Operative Group and has authored two books titled Tough Calls and On Leadership.
With such a successful career to his name, Allan is now frequently booked as a keynote speaker for corporate events to share his expertise. From his time spent as Marketing and Sales Director at Pedigree Petfoods to CEO of Asda, Allan has learnt the successes of business management and strategy along with how to make the right decision during difficult times. An adept businessman and equally talented speaker, Allan Leighton is the perfect choice for a keynote speaker at a range of events.
