Mary Perkins | |
---|---|
Born | Bristol, England | 14 February 1944
Education | Fairfield Grammar School |
Alma mater | Cardiff University |
Occupation | Businesswoman |
Known for | Founder of Specsavers |
Spouse | Doug Perkins |
Children | 3 |
Dame Mary Lesley Perkins, DBE (born 14 February 1944) [1] is an English billionaire who is the co-founder of Specsavers, the British retail optometry chain.
Together with her husband, co-founder and chairman Doug Perkins, Dame Mary has three children, all of whom work for Specsavers, and are eventually expected to take over the privately-owned company. [2]
In spring 2015, her net worth was estimated to be £1.45 billion. [3]
She attended Fairfield Grammar School in Bristol. She then went to Cardiff University to train as an optometrist. At Cardiff, she met Doug Perkins, whom she later married. The couple established their first business in Bristol in the 1960s. This became a chain of optometrists around Bristol, which they sold for £2 million in 1980, and from which they continue to receive income. After the sale the couple moved to Guernsey, where Mary's father had retired. [2]
Mary and Doug Perkins established Specsavers in Guernsey in 1984. In 2007 it was the largest privately owned opticians in the world, with nearly 900 stores across the UK and Europe. By 2011 the company had an annual turnover of £1.5bn and over 30,000 staff in markets in the UK, Europe and Australasia. [4]
Her current title at Specsavers is "founder". Dame Mary sits on the company board, oversees business development and has particular responsibility for running PR. She has admitted donning disguises and visiting Specsavers stores, posing as a customer. [2]
Perkins was made an honorary fellow of Cardiff University in 2005. The same year she received the Rotary International Community and Vocational Service Award for her services to charity and in 2006 won the inaugural Spirit of everywoman Award. Perkins was the first female optometrist in the UK to receive the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2007 for services to Business and to the community in Guernsey. [5]
The accolade was also in recognition of her other charitable work, including the Guernsey annual "Specsavers Liberation Tea Dance for pensioners", and her directorship of Women's Refuge and Age Concern. [6] She is also a patron to leading children's charity Kidscape. [7]
Mary also supports culture as the Honorary Patron of Masteg Gleemen, a Welsh Male Voice Choir. [8]
In 2012 Perkins was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Business from Plymouth University [9]
In February 2013 she was assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4. [10]
In July 2015 she was made an Officer Sister of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem. [11]
In October 2017, Dame Mary was honoured with an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year UK Lifetime Achievement Award for her continued contribution to entrepreneurship and the economy. [12]
Perkins is a founding patron of the not-for-profit social enterprise, Modern Muse. [13]
Joan Ann Plowright, Baroness Olivier,, professionally known as Dame Joan Plowright, is an English retired actress whose career spanned over six decades. She has won two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award and has been nominated for an Academy Award, an Emmy and two BAFTA Awards. She was the second of only four actresses to have won two Golden Globes in the same year. She won the Laurence Olivier Award for Actress of the Year in a New Play in 1978 for Filumena.
Carys Davina Grey-Thompson, Baroness Grey-Thompson,, known as Tanni Grey-Thompson, is a Welsh life peeress, television presenter and former wheelchair racer.
Dame Darcey Andrea Bussell, (born Marnie Mercedes Darcey Pemberton Crittle; is a retired English ballerina and a former judge on the BBC television dance contest Strictly Come Dancing.
Specsavers Optical Group Ltd is a British multinational optical retail chain, which operates mainly in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and the Nordic countries. The chain offers optometry and optician services for eyesight testing and sells glasses, sunglasses, and contact lenses. It also sells hearing aids. In the United Kingdom in 2012 it had the largest single market share of the four major opticians, with 42% of the market.
Dame Elisabeth Joy Murdoch, Lady Murdoch, also known as Elisabeth, Lady Murdoch, was an Australian philanthropist and matriarch of the Murdoch family. She was the wife of Australian newspaper publisher Sir Keith Murdoch and the mother of international media proprietor Rupert Murdoch. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1963 for her charity work in Australia and overseas.
Dame Frances Anne Cairncross, is a British economist, journalist and academic. She is a senior fellow at the School of Public Policy, UCLA.
Dame Elizabeth Nneka Anionwu is a British nurse, health care administrator, lecturer, and Emeritus Professor of Nursing at the University of West London.
Dame Fiona Claire Reynolds is a British former civil servant and chair of the National Audit Office. She was previously Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge and Director-General of the National Trust. She is the current Chair of the Governing Council at the Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester.
Kidscape is a London-based charity established in 1985, by child psychologist Michele Elliott. Its focus is on children's safety, with an emphasis on the prevention of harm by equipping children with techniques and mindsets that help them stay safe.
Dame Carol Vivien Robinson, is a British chemist and former president of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2018–2020). She was a Royal Society Research Professor and is the Dr Lee's Professor of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, and a professorial fellow at Exeter College, University of Oxford. She is the first director of the Kavli Institution for Nanoscience Discovery, University of Oxford, and she was previously professor of mass spectrometry at the chemistry department of the University of Cambridge.
Dame Mary Alison Glen-Haig, was a British fencer who competed in four Olympic games in 1948, 1952, 1956 and 1960. She was born in London, the daughter of William James, a fencer at the 1908 London Olympics. She began competing professionally in 1937 and continued until 1960, during which time she won two gold medals at the Commonwealth Games and competed in four Olympics in the women's individual foil events. She was one of the first female members of the International Olympic Committee in 1982 and was created a dame in 1993. After London's successful bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics in 2005, she was active as the host nation's ambassador to the games.
Fairfield Grammar School was a secondary school in Bristol, England, founded in 1898 as Fairfield Secondary and Higher Grade School. It became a grammar school in 1945 and closed in 2000, to be replaced by a new comprehensive, Fairfield High School, at first on the same site, but now located in Stottbury Road, Bristol. BHES, is now based in half of the old school, the other half is now Fairlawn Primary School.
Everywoman is a membership organization based in the United Kingdom that advocates for advancement of women in business to close the gender pay gap. It provides personal development resources, leadership training, events, award programmes, networking opportunities and inspiration for women in business and female entrepreneurs. It works closely with government, opinion formers and business support organisations, with sponsors including Bupa, NatWest and Specsavers.
Dame Julia Mary Goodfellow is a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kent, and Chair of the British Science Association. She was the president of Universities UK from 1 August 2015 until July 2017.
Julia Mary Slingo is a British meteorologist and climate scientist. She was Chief Scientist at the Met Office from 2009 until 2016. She is also a visiting professor in the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading, where she held, prior to appointment to the Met Office, the positions of Director of Climate Research in the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) National Centre for Atmospheric Science and founding director of the Walker Institute for Climate System Research.
Dame Parveen June Kumar is a British doctor who is Professor of Medicine and Education at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry. She worked in the NHS for over 40 years as a consultant gastroenterologist and physician at Barts and the London Hospitals and the Homerton University Hospital. She was the President of the British Medical Association in 2006, of the Royal Society of Medicine from 2010 to 2012, of the Medical Women's Federation from 2016 to 2018 and of the Royal Medical Benevolent Fund from 2013 to 2020. She was also Vice President of the Royal College of Physicians from 2003 to 2005. In addition, she was a founding non-executive director of the National Institute of Clinical Excellence, chaired the Medicines Commission UK until 2005, and also chaired the BUPA Foundation Charity for Research until 2013.
Dame Celia Mary Hoyles, is a British mathematician, educationalist and Professor of Mathematics Education at University College London (UCL), in the Institute of Education (IoE).
Douglas John David Perkins is a Welsh billionaire businessman. He is the co-founder of Specsavers, an international optical retail chain.
Sam Smith is a British businesswoman and financier. She is the founder and chief executive of the corporate advisor and brokerage firm FinnCap, the largest broker for companies listed on London's growth stock market AIM and a top five broker for the London Stock Exchange. Smith is the first female chief executive of a City stockbroking firm.
As part of the British honours system, Special Honours are issued at the Monarch's pleasure at any given time. The Special Honours refer to the awards made within royal prerogative, operational honours, political honours and other honours awarded outside the New Years Honours and Birthday Honours.