The Risk "Value" Challenge Executive Masterclass 2010

Your masterclass trainers

Described by The Times as having a CV that "takes some beating" Hamish Taylor was trained as a Brand Manager at Procter & Gamble and then as a Consultant at Pricewaterhouse. As Head of Brand Management at British Airways, Chief Executive of Eurostar and then Chief Executive of Sainsburys Bank, Hamish drove significant growth by changing the brand propositions and operating models away from the traditional industry approaches.  

Hamish was born in Zambia in 1960 to Scottish parents.  He was educated at the Skinners’ School in Tunbridge Wells and at St Andrews University (MA (Hon) Economics).  From there he was awarded both a Bobby Jones scholarship and a St Andrews Society of Washington DC scholarship to Emory University (Atlanta) where he graduated with an MBA in 1984. He represented both universities in football, rugby and athletics, was a Scottish Junior International Athlete and President of the St Andrews University Sports Union.

He began his career with Procter & Gamble Ltd.  From 1984 to 1990 he held a variety of Brand Management positions culminating in responsibility for the household cleaner portfolio (Flash brands).  Following this, Hamish was a Management Consultant with PriceWaterhouse from 1990 to 1993 specialising in marketing effectiveness studies.

He was appointed Head of Brand Management at British Airways at the end of 1993 taking responsibility for the airline’s passenger brands (First, Club, Concorde, Shuttle, etc) and also playing a role in the growing group of BA franchise partners and Alliances. Innovations there included major product relaunches of Club Europe, Club World and First Class (including the introduction of flat beds).

In 1997 he moved to Eurostar as Managing Director of Eurostar (UK) Ltd at the age of 36.  The business was three years old and his remit was to reduce the major losses the operation was suffering.  After two successful years in this role he was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Eurostar Group, the organisation which oversees the Eurostar business in the three participating countries (UK, France and Belgium).

At the end of 1999 Hamish was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Sainsbury’s Bank, a joint venture between J Sainsbury’s plc (55%) and the Bank of Scotland (45%). Once again, the objective was rapid growth in profit from the breakeven position he inherited. The ability to innovate and move away from traditional Banking approaches to behave more like a retailer proved the key to the significant growth that resulted.

With Sainsburys Bank now earning large profits, Hamish moved to his next challenge as CEO for Vision UK. Vision is a highly innovative consultancy with major clients including Time Warner, General Motors and Citibank. They first brought their Commitment Based Management techniques to the UK with the building of Intelligent Finance.

In 2004 Hamish established his own company (hamish taylor Skills Exchange Network) which focuses on enabling organisations to achieve breakthroughs by looking outside their current environment. Processes, product and people development are all part of this mix.  Under the Skills Exchange Network name he has also consulted or spoken for a wide variety of organisations including Microsoft, RBS, BAA, Camelot, Inland Revenue, Kimberly Clark, Post Office, Ernst and Young, Diageo and the Economist. 

Simon Griffiths has held various board positions including CEO for a range of companies, institutionally and privately owned from start ups to PLCs. He has worked directly with various chairmen including a FTSE100 Chair. Simon's experiences have taught him that clear objectives, forward planning and effective communciation are critical to success.

After completing an Economics honours degree he joined PricewaterhouseCoopers where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant specialising in Corporate Recovery.  During this time he gained management experience of diverse businesses including an abattoir, leisure park, a chain of jewellery shops, etc.  He also dealt with the Barlow Clowes case and the sale of the Knightsbridge and St John’s Wood Safety deposit centres, both associated with two of the most significant crimes of the last century.

Simon next joined an asset finance company owned by Barclays Bank where he was responsible for negotiating structured tax based funding facilities with merchant banks. 

He moved to the boutique IT company Copernicus where he became MD.  Whilst there he set up companies in training, recruitment and new media.  He was instrumental in securing and delivering point-of-sale, administration and accounting solutions for BMW Finance, enabling BMW to move away from outsourcing.  Whilst at Copernicus Simon was an advisor to the government during its privatisation of rolling stock companies.

Simon then branched out on his own securing VC funding to acquire an International Publishing business VRLKnowledgebank, where he was appointed CEO.

Most recently Simon has set up his own consultancy company, Reciproca, and works jointly with Hamish Taylor under the Skills Exchange umbrella.

Simon has published various articles and authored a series of Psion computer guides and the book, “Lease Evaluation and Taxation”, the latter in conjunction with Ernst & Young published by Euromoney.

Throughout his career Simon’s experiences have taught him that clear objectives, forward planning and effective communication are critical to success. 

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