Allan Leighton (born 12 April 1953) is a British businessman, former chairman of The Co-operative Group, former CEO of Asda, former chief executive of Pandora, and former non-executive chairman of the Royal Mail. He is also the co-owner of Brackley Town.
Allan Leighton was born in Hereford, the son of a Co-op shop manager, and raised in Oxford. He thought about becoming a professional footballer, but broke his leg in six places aged 15.[1]
Leighton joined Lloyds Bank as a cashier in 1972. He left to join Mars UKinSlough as a salesman in 1974[3] and worked at the company for eighteen years, where his colleagues included Justin King, David Cheesewright and Richard Baker. He was appointed General Sales Manager for the UK Grocery Division in 1987 (the youngest director in the company worldwide),[1] and subsequently, managing director of Mars in Ireland and Portugal.[4]
Leighton says he owes a lot to the Mars brothers, who gave him the practical basis for much of what he did at Asda: they would fly economy, hire a car and inspect a factory without warning before management arrived, talking to workers to get a sense of what was going on.[5]
Leaving Mars as marketing and sales director for Pedigree Petfoods, he joined Archie Norman's management team at Asda as marketing director in March 1992. He attended Harvard University's six-week Advanced Management Program.[6]
In 1999, it was reported that an £18bn merger would happen between Asda and Kingfisher plc, which would see Leighton become deputy chief executive of the enlarged group.[7] However, the merger fell through and the company was sold to the US-based Wal-Mart for £6.2 billion in the same year.[8]
Leighton received a £3.4 million payoff from his previous employers Pandora, where he was chief executive from July 2013 to August 2014.[12]
In February 2015, The Co-operative Group appointed Leighton as its new independent non-executive chairman, he became the first independent chairman for the business.[13] Leighton was succeeded as Co-op chair by former Sodexo boss Debbie White in February 2024 after a nine year term.[14]
Leighton took part in the 2008 London Marathon to raise money for Breast Cancer Care,[23] a charity to which he pledges all his earnings from television, speeches and his book "On Leadership".[2]
