Frederick Wood (industrialist)

Last updated

Frederick Wood
Born(1926-05-30)May 30, 1926
Goole, Yorkshire
DiedMarch 29, 2003(2003-03-29) (aged 76)
NationalityBritish
Alma mater Clare College, Cambridge
OccupationBusinessman

Sir Frederick ("Fred") Ambrose Stuart Wood (30 May 1926 - 9 March 2003) was a prominent businessman and industrialist most renowned for overseeing the rapid growth of Croda International.

Contents

Early life

Fred Wood was born on 30 May 1926 in Goole, Yorkshire. Fred attended Felsted School subsequently gaining a place to study at Clare College, University of Cambridge, his time at which was cut short by military service obligations. In 1944 he joined the Fleet Air Arm, a branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft, completing his training in America and the Caribbean.

Early career and role in the establishment of Croda International

In 1925 Wood's great uncle, George Crowe entered into a partnership to produce lanolin, a fatty substance found in sheep's wool used widely as a base ingredient in lubricants and cosmetics. This new enterprise was named Croda and established at Rawcliffe Bridge, outside Goole, Yorkshire. [1] In 1927 Fred's father, Philip Wood became the manager of the new factory and made improvements to the production process, during the 1930s, to satisfy meet growing demand for lanolin.

Following his demobilisation in 1947 Fred Wood returned to join Croda as a management trainee. When Philip died two years later in 1949, aged 46, a committee of directors assumed responsibility for managing the business, with Fred acting as sales director. A year later, in 1950, Fred re-located to New York City to establish an overseas office. [2] Fred quickly established a US business with turnover of over £100,000 and three years later, aged 27, returned to the UK to assume the position of Managing Director, with the support of Chairman George Crowe. [3]

Croda was still a relatively modest enterprise however Wood returned from his time overseas with what he termed "a dose of profit orientation" and ambitious growth plans for Croda. He concentrated company strategy on specialised high-margin products – in particular ingredients for premium beauty products – and move away from low-margin, high-volume production of lanolin. As Croda began to grow quickly it moved to its current headquarters at Cowick Hall, [1] a Georgian mansion in Snaith, Yorkshire.

During his time in abroad Wood had also developed a fondness for American style which quickly made him a recognisable figure in 1950s Yorkshire. [3] He owned a yellow Buick convertible, and learnt to pilot the company plane. Well-tailored and tall he quickly developed a reputation as a dynamic business leader. At one time Fred harboured political ambitions however an unsuccessful experience as a Conservative Party parliamentary candidate for Middlesbrough East in 1962 and again in 1964 convinced him to re-focus his energy on Croda.

Growth of Croda and later career

In 1960 Fred Wood became Chairman as well as Managing Director and in 1964 oversaw the initial public listing of Croda. Boosted by Croda's strong growth record the share price grew steadily enabling Wood to undertake a series of acquisitions, notably United Premier Oil in 1967 and British Glues & Chemicals in 1968. Croda was becoming a truly international business – between 1964 and 1971 new ventures were launched in many new territories including Italy, Germany, Japan, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Brazil and France. [2] Croda's profits, £10,000 at the start of Wood’s tenure, grew steadily passing £1 million in 1969. At the time of Fred’s retirement in 1986 group profits exceeded £20 million, supported by a global workforce of over 6,000. [4]

His successful stewardship of Croda attracted attention in the world of Politics and in 1972 the Conservative government of Edward Heath approached him to take charge of the newly formed National Bus Company, an entity created from a collection of disparate regional services. Under Wood's chairmanship, between 1972 and 1978, the National Express inter-city network was launched under a new white livery with an eye-catching chevron logo. It boasted competitive fares from re-developed city-centre locations, such as London Victoria. Structural losses in early years were replaced by a robust surplus in his final year as Chairman. In recognition of his public service Wood was knighted in 1977. [5]

After the return of a Conservative government in 1979, Wood's success with the bus company led to him being approached, in 1981, to oversee a complex reorganisation process at the National Enterprise Board, merging it with the National Research Development Corporation. [6] In 1983, the new combined body was privatised to become the British Technology Group (BTG).

The role at the BTG marked the end of Wood's public service, and he stepped down as chairman of Croda three years later, due to the continued onset of Parkinson's disease.

Related Research Articles

Imperial Chemical Industries Former British chemicals, paints and pharmaceuticals company

Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926. Its headquarters were at Millbank in London. ICI was a constituent of the FT 30 and later the FTSE 100 indices.

Goole Town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England

Goole is a port town and civil parish on the River Ouse in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The town's historic county is the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Humberside Former county of England

Humberside was a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in Northern England from 1 April 1974 until 1 April 1996. It was composed of land from either side of the Humber Estuary, created from portions of the East Riding of Yorkshire, West Riding of Yorkshire, and the northern part of Lindsey, Lincolnshire. The county council's headquarters was County Hall at Beverley, inherited from East Riding County Council. Its largest settlement and only city was Kingston upon Hull. Other notable towns included Goole, Beverley, Scunthorpe, Grimsby, Cleethorpes and Bridlington. The county stretched from Wold Newton in its northern tip to a different Wold Newton at its most southern point.

Archie Norman British businessman and politician

Archibald John Norman is a British businessman and politician. He is the only person to have been chairman of an FTSE 100 company and a Member of the House of Commons (MP) at the same time. From January 2010 to January 2016, Norman was the chairman of ITV plc. He succeeded Robert Swannell as chairman of Marks & Spencer in September 2017.

Fred, Frederic, or Frederick Smith may refer to:

The National Enterprise Board (NEB) was a United Kingdom government body. It was set up in 1975 by the Labour government of Harold Wilson, to support the government's interventionist approach to industry. In 1981 the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher, combined the NEB with the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) to form the British Technology Group.

Freddie Mac GSE entreprise

The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), commonly known as Freddie Mac, is a publicly traded, government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia. The FHLMC was created in 1970 to expand the secondary market for mortgages in the US. Along with the Federal National Mortgage Association, Freddie Mac buys mortgages, pools them, and sells them as a mortgage-backed security (MBS) to private investors on the open market. This secondary mortgage market increases the supply of money available for mortgage lending and increases the money available for new home purchases. The name "Freddie Mac" is a variant of the FHLMC initialism of the company's full name that was adopted officially for ease of identification.

David Young, Baron Young of Graffham

David Ivor Young, Baron Young of Graffham, is a British Conservative Party politician, former cabinet minister and businessman.

Sir Kenneth Duncan Morrison CBE was an English businessman, Life President, and former chairman of Morrisons, the fourth largest supermarket group in the United Kingdom. He was the son of William Morrison, who founded the company.

Croda International

Croda International plc is a British speciality chemicals company based at Snaith, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

John Laing (businessman) British entrepreneur (1879–1978)

Sir John William Laing was a British entrepreneur in the construction industry. He inherited his father's building business – which is now known as John Laing Group – in the early 1900s.

Federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Action taken by the U.S. Treasury in an attempt to lessen the subprime mortgage crisis

In September 2008 the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced that it would take over the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. Both government-sponsored enterprises, which finance home mortgages in the United States by issuing bonds, had become illiquid as the market for those bonds collapsed in the subprime mortgage crisis. The FHFA established conservatorships in which each enterprise's management works under the FHFA's direction to reduce losses and to develop a new operating structure that will allow a return to self-management.

Timothy David Dalton Philips is an Irish businessman. He was the CEO of the UK supermarket chain Morrisons from January 2010 until March 2015, when he was succeeded by David Potts. He is currently the chief executive of daa, the Irish state-owned global airports and travel retail group which runs Dublin and Cork airports.

Andrew Percy British Conservative politician

Andrew Theakstone Percy is a British Conservative Party politician. He was elected Member of Parliament for Brigg and Goole in 2010 and is an active member of many groups in Parliament including All Party Parliamentary Groups on Financial Education for Young People, Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire as well as being a member of the anti-European Union Better Off Out Group.

The Great Recession in the United States was a severe financial crisis combined with a deep recession. While the recession officially lasted from December 2007 to June 2009, it took many years for the economy to recover to pre-crisis levels of employment and output. This slow recovery was due in part to households and financial institutions paying off debts accumulated in the years preceding the crisis along with restrained government spending following initial stimulus efforts. It followed the bursting of the housing bubble, the housing market correction and subprime mortgage crisis.

Satya Nadella Indian-American business executive (born 1967)

Satya Narayana Nadella is an Indian American business executive. He is the executive chairman and CEO of Microsoft, succeeding Steve Ballmer in 2014 as CEO and John W. Thompson in 2021 as chairman. Before becoming CEO, he was the executive vice president of Microsoft's cloud and enterprise group, responsible for building and running the company's computing platforms.

Principle Group

Principle Group is an international brand implementation company headquartered in Huddersfield, UK, with offices in the USA, Mexico, Germany, France, Italy, Brazil, China, Japan, Russia, South Africa, Australia and India.

DWF Group Company

DWF is a global legal business headquartered in Manchester with 31 offices across the world. In March 2019, DWF was listed on the London Stock Exchange. With a £366m valuation and offer size of £95m, DWF became the UK’s largest listed law firm.

John Storey Barwick English industrialist involved within quarries, coal-mining, shipping and shipbuilding

John Storey Barwick, 1st Baronet of Ashbrooke Grange, J.P., (1840–1915), was an English industrialist involved within quarries, coal-mining, shipping and shipbuilding concerns. He was founder of Easington Colliery in 1899 then known as The Easington Coal Company Limited a privately owned company of which he was chairman. Barwick was made first baronet of Ashbrooke Grange in 1912.

References

  1. 1 2 "Timeline". Croda International. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Our History". Croda International. Archived from the original on 2 April 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Sir Frederick Wood". The Telegraph. 20 March 2003. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  4. ↑ "Sir Freddie Wood (1926-2003)". The Meister. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  5. ↑ "Sir Freddie Wood". The Guardian. 24 March 2003. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  6. ↑ "Records". University of Southampton. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.