Sir Terence Patrick “Terry” Leahy is arguably the most accomplished businessman in all of Britain. Terry Leahy previously served as the CEO of British mega chain Tesco. Tesco is the largest British retailer and the third largest retailer in the entire world based on measured revenue. Terry is responsible for a lot of that, being that he spearheaded the global expansion for the supermarket retailer. When he became the company’s first marketing director, he introduced the customers to the Tesco Clubcard which turned out to be a massive success for the company.
Because of such an impeccable business acumen, Terry has been recognized for his accomplishments with several business-related awards. These awards include an Honorary Degree from the University of Liverpool in 2007, the Sunday Times Business Person of the Year for 2010, a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 from Retail Week Magazine and a run as Britain’s most admired leader from 2005 to 2010 according to Management Today. Leahy was honored as Britain’s Business Leader of the Year in 2003 and the Fortune European Businessman of the Year in 2004. In 2007, a panel for Guardian Unlimited Politics agreed that he is the most influential non-elected person in Britain. Leahy was granted the freedom of the city of Liverpool and was knighted in the year 2002 for his services to food retailing.
In 2010 The Tablet named Terry as one of Britain’s most influential Roman Catholics. Sir Terry also received the Outstanding Achievement in Business Award at the 2013 Business and Finance Awards.
As CEO of Tesco, Terry oversaw the most successful era in the company’s history with an almost 62 billion euro turnover in 2010. He’s also responsible for expanding the retailer from strictly groceries to include electrical goods and building a 1 billion euro clothing business.
