Giles Clarke

Charles Giles Clarke CBE (born 29 May 1953) is an English businessman and cricket administrator, and former chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Giles Clarke

CBE
Clarke at Trent Bridge June 2009
Chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board
In office
2007–2015
Succeeded byColin Graves
Personal details
Born
Charles Giles Clarke

(1953-05-29) 29 May 1953
Bristol, England, United Kingdom[1]
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom
NationalityEnglish
Spouse(s)Judy
ChildrenOne
EducationRugby School
Alma materOriel College, Oxford
ProfessionBusinessman

Early life and education

Born in Bristol, Clarke was educated at Rugby School. He then studied at Oriel College, Oxford where he graduated with an MA in Persian with Arabic; reportedly he paid his way by gambling.[2] He then spent a year at the University of Damascus Arabic language school.[3]

Business career

Clarke began his career as an investment banker with Credit Suisse First Boston. In 1981 he bought from receivership the assets of what was to become Majestic Wine,[4] where, as chairman, he built it into a UK national chain. From August 1987 to May 1988, Clarke was chairman of Majestic Wine Corporation Inc, a United States company which owned a chain of 104 stores trading as Liquor Barn in California and Arizona.[5] Following disposal of the US based businesses, he sold the UK plc business of Majestic Wines for £15 million in 1989.

In 1990, Clarke founded Pet City, where, as CEO, he built it into a chain of 94 stores (also dressing up at Christmas in the Swindon Store). After making the business public in 1995, he sold the business for £150 million in 1996 to US based PetsMart.[6] In 1998, Clarke founded Safestore, building it into the UK's third largest self storage company, selling it to Bridgepoint Capital for £44million in August 2003.[7] In 1999 Mr Clarke became CEO of Stepstone,[8] an online career portal. Since he came on board, the company has raised NKr1.8bn ($197m) from the IPO in 2000 and grew from four countries and 200 employees to a staff of 1,385 in 18 countries.

Clarke is currently Chairman and controlling shareholder, via his company Westleigh Investments, of:

  • ATL Telecom – Cardiff based data transmission design equipment company, which manufactures in China[9][10]
  • Fosters Event Catering – a West Country-based independent caterer[11]
  • CCI International – the UK's largest clay pigeon equipment manufacturer[12]
  • West Country Business Systems – develops software systems for managing independent schools.
  • Boston Tea Party – a West Country-based chain of coffee shops
  • Clarke is the non-executive deputy chairman of Pure Wafer plc – presently the only European based silicon chip test wafer reclaim company[13]

Clarke is also Chairman of oil and gas explorer Amerisur Resources PLC (formerly known as Chaco Resources,[14] )

Public service

Giles Clarke has served with the following public bodies:

In 2010/11, Clarke was elected as Master of the private club the Society of Merchant Venturers in Bristol.[15][16] The society conducts charitable works, but has been accused of using its present influence to sanitise the memory of Edward Colston.[17][18]

Cricket

A keen club cricketer, Clarke became chairman of Somerset County Cricket Club, becoming instrumental in developing the club both on and off field and consulting ex cricketers including Sir Ian Botham.[2] He resultantly became a non-executive director of the England and Wales Cricket Board, and as Chairman of Marketing led the negotiations for their new four-year TV and radio broadcasting rights deal signed with BSkyB, Five and the BBC in December 2004.[19] On 25 September 2007 Clarke was voted in as Chairman of the ECB,[20] re-elected in 2009, and again in March 2012 for a further three years.[21] In April 2015 Clarke was nominated as the ECB's first president, with the intention that president's primary role would be to represent ECB on the International Cricket Council's executive board.[22]

Clarke was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to cricket.[23][24]

Private life

Married to Judy, the couple have a son Jack – after whom the brasserie in Bristol is named.[2] A family man and protective of his private life, when his name appeared in the Sunday Times Rich List in the mid-1990s, Clarke took steps to protect his financial interests from the public.[2]

References
  1. Bio at CricInfo
  2. The incoming chairman of the ECB promises to be more controversial, more decisive and far more outspoken, The Times, 26 September 2007
  3. Entrepreneurs Question Time SetSquared – 4 October 2007
  4. About Us: National Council – C Giles Clarke Archived 25 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine Learning & Skills Council
  5. tecc-IS plc – Directorate Change digitallook.com – 12 December 2003
  6. How to lose a fortune in two years Independent – 24 February 1999
  7. Soros makes a loss in Safestore's £40m management buyout Independent – 22 August 2003
  8. http://specials.ft.com/ftit/march2001/FT336FDYWJC.html
  9. ATL Telecom announces £20 million 3 year contract to provide enhancements to BT’s KiloStream network ATL Telecom
  10. Interview with Giles Clarke – West Country Financier and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, ATL Telecom Ltd Archived 19 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine Commonwealth Government & Business Guide to Information and Communication Technology
  11. Fosters spread the word and their Wings Archived 13 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine Fosters Catering – 14 February 2007
  12. About Us Archived 31 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine CCI International
  13. About Us Archived 22 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine Pure Wafer plc
  14. Market profile – Energised: Giles Clarke The Telegraph – 21 May 2007
  15. "Our Members". The Society of Merchant Venturers. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  16. "FAQ". The Society of Merchant Venturers. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  17. Cork, Tristan (25 March 2019). "Second Colston statue plaque not axed but mayor orders re-write". bristolpost. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  18. Cork, Tristan (12 June 2020). "Merchants admit it was 'inappropriate' to stop second Colston statue plaque". bristolpost. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  19. ECB TV rights deal with Sky and Five Archived 17 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine ECB – 16 December 2004
  20. Clarke wins ECB chairmanship vote BBC Sport – 25 September 2007
  21. "Giles Clarke CBE, DL - ECB chairman". ECB website. Archived from the original on 1 March 2014. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  22. "Clarke nominated as first ECB President". ECB. Archived from the original on 10 August 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2016.
  23. "No. 60009". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2011. p. 7.
  24. "New Year honours list: GBEs, DBEs and CBEs". The Guardian. London. 31 December 2011. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
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