Ian Cheshire

Who is Ian Cheshire?

Ian Michael Cheshire is a British businessman, currently Chief Executive of Kingfisher plc, a British multinational retailing company, the largest home improvement retailer in Europe and the third-largest in the world.

Cheshire was educated at The King's School, Canterbury, and graduated in economics and law from Christ's College, Cambridge, University of Cambridge.

Cheshire's first job was with Boston Consulting Group, before working for Guinness, as Ernest Saunders' executive assistant, and Sears, before joining Kingfisher as strategy director in 1998.

In January 2008, Kingfisher appointed Cheshire as Group Chief Executive.

In 2012, Cheshire won The Guardian Sustainable Business Leader of the Year award. His vision of B&Q "customers renting power drills as opposed to buying them" has captured imaginations, and is a widely used example of a mainstream business adopting a more collaborative approach to its products and services.