Gerry Robinson

For the football player, see Jerry Robinson (American football).

For the comics artist, see Jerry Robinson.

Sir Gerrard Jude "Gerry" Robinson (b. 1948, Dunfanaghy, County Donegal) is an Irish-born British businessman. He is the former (non-executive) Chairman of Allied Domecq and the ex-Chairman/Chief Executive of Granada.

Early life

After leaving Ireland in his early teens, he briefly trained to become a Catholic priest at St Mary's College in Castlehead. He began a career in accounting in 1965 working as a clerk with Matchbox Toys. After achieving his Chief Management Accountant qualification, he was promoted to became a chief accountant at a Lesney factory in east London.

Career

In 1974, he left Matchbox to work for Lex Vehicle Leasing as a management accountant. He then rose through the company before being appointed finance director.

In 1980, he joined the UK franchise of Coca Cola, owned at that time by Grand Metropolitan. In 1983 he was appointed managing director of Grand Metropolitan's international services division. In 1987 he led a £163m management buyout of the loss-making contract services and catering division which was later renamed Compass.

He then joined Granada as chief executive in 1991 and notably fired Granada's highly respected chairman, David Plowright in 1992. (Comedian John Cleese labelled Robinson "an ignorant upstart caterer").

He steered the company through various mergers, and hostile takeovers including London Weekend Television (1993), the Forte Hotels chain (1996) and an unsuccessful attempt at acquiring Rentokil Initial in 2005.

Television

In January 2007 he presented a three-part series Can Gerry Robinson Fix the NHS?. Following on from the BBC series I’ll Show Them Who’s Boss, this Open University-produced programme followed Robinson as he attempted to reduce waiting lists at Rotherham General Hospital. [1]

He returned a year later for a sequel titled Can Gerry Robinson Fix the NHS? One Year On [2]

In June 2009 he presented a special edition of The Money Programme entitled Gerry Robinson's Car Crash investigating the history and future of the British motor industry. He regularly appears on British TV as a celebrity businessman.

In July 2009 he started a TV series called Gerry’s Big Decision where he looks at struggling companies and decides whether it is worth investing his own money to save them.

Personal life

Robinson also served as chairman of the Arts Council England for six years from 1998, in which capacity he was on one occasion one of the many victims of a spoof by British comedian Ali G.

He has divorced and remarried, and has a total of 4 children. He lives in Holland Park, West London, and has a vacation home near Raphoe, a small town in the Laggan Valley of County Donegal, part of the Province of Ulster in Ireland.

Although originally a Conservative Party supporter, he supported Tony Blair and starred in a Labour Party Election Broadcast, saying:

"I think, frankly, there's only one party that can represent Britain best, getting business right, and that's New Labour" [3]

In June 2008, Robinson was one of four Labour donors who expressed their concerns with Gordon Brown's leadership and stated he would not be contributing any more money to the Labour party until there was a change of leader. [4]

He was knighted in the 2004 New Year's Honours List.

External links

• Can Gerry Robinson fix the NHS official site
• Can Gerry Robinson fix the NHS? One Year On official site
• Gerry Robinson news
• Business Interview in The Independent
• Labour donor says Brown must go BBC News 29 June 2008