Stuart Rose

"For the American retail executive with a similar name, see Stuart Alan Rose."

Sir Stuart Alan Ransom Rose (born March 17, 1949, Gosport) is the Executive Chairman of the British retailer Marks & Spencer. He was knighted in 2008.

Background

Stuart Rose’s grandparents were White Russian émigrés who fled to China after the 1917 revolution. His real family name is Bryantzeff — his father, ex-RAF and civil servant, changed it. [ [http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/article788500.ece "Interview: Andrew Davidson: Full Marks for Stuart Rose"] . "The Sunday Times". January 15, 2006.] His family lived in a caravan in Warwickshire before moving to Tanzania when his father had a posting with the civil service. Rose went to the catholic [http://www.flickr.com/photos/85154321@N00/261767134 St Joseph's Convent] School in Dar es Salaam until he was 11, Tanzania and the independent Bootham School in York. His first job was as an administration assistant at the BBC. His mother committed suicide when he was in his twenties. He lives in central London and Suffolk. He married Jennifer Cook in 1973 in St Marylebone, and they have a son and daughter.

Career

Stuart Rose first joined Marks & Spencer in 1972, as a management trainee. Rose remained with Marks & Spencer until 1989, when he joined the Burton Group as Chief Executive in 1994. The Burton Group demerged forming the Arcadia and Debenhams businesses.

In 1997 he joined Argos as Chief Executive, where he was appointed to defend the company from a takeover bid from the catalogue giant, Great Universal Stores (GUS). GUS did however take control of Argos, but it has been reportedFact|date=August 2007 that Rose succeeded in negotiating an increased price for the retailer.

In a turbulent time in its history, Rose became the Chief Executive of Booker plc, where he oversaw the merger of the company with Iceland.

Rose joined the Arcadia Group in 2000 as Chief Executive and left in 2002 following its acquisition. Rose turned around the fortunes of the Arcadia Group, and sold the group for over £800m, netting himself around £25m as part of the deal.

He was appointed to the position of Chief Executive of Marks & Spencer in May 2004, aged 56 and subsequently fought off several takeover bids by Phillip Green for the Group. Rose appeared to be rejuvenating the Marks & Spencer Group as he did at Arcadia. In January 2007, he was named the "2006 Business Leader of the Year" by the World Leadership Forum for his efforts in restoring the fortunes of Marks and Spencer.He was knighted in the 2008 New Year Honours and was appointed president of Business in the Community on 1 January 2008.

On 10 March it was reported that Sir Stuart will become Executive Chairman of Marks & Spencer from 1 June 2008. [ [http://investing.businessweek.com/businessweek/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=8269276&symbol=MKS.L Business Week Profile] ] However, in the light of a recent profits warning, which sparked an unprecedented thirty per cent-plus plunge in the company's shares, this appointment has caused some concern to many shareholders. [Irish Times, 9 July 2008, page 19, Business Today] . Nevertheless, they voted to reappoint him at their annual meeting on 9 July 2008.

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