Sir Terence Patrick Leahy (born 28 February 1956) is a British businessman, previously the CEO of Tesco, with his wife, Alison, and his three children.
Early life
Born in Belle Vale, Liverpool to Irish immigrants, Leahy grew up in a prefabricated home in Endbrook Road. His father, a merchant seaman, was injured in World War II and worked as a bookmaker to support the family. Leahy attended Our Lady of the Assumption Primary School, L25. He passed the 11+ exam and earned a scholarship to attend St. Edward's College, Liverpool a direct grant grammar school. He credits these institutions as providing scaffolding for ascent out of an impoverished background. He began working (including a job stacking shelves at Tesco) and went on to study at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) where he gained his BSc in Management Sciences and graduated in 1977. He earned a D.Sc. from Cranfield University.
Career
Tesco
Following his then-girlfriend to London, he applied to become a product manager for Turkey Foil but was turned down. He applied for a job at Tesco, but lost out to another candidate. After that candidate was quickly reassigned upwards, Leahy returned to Tesco in 1979 as a marketing executive.
On 8 June 2010, Tesco announced that Leahy was to retire as chief executive in March 2011. Leahy has been paid £8.42m in performance related bonuses since his departure from Tesco, in addition to a pension pot worth £18.4m at the time of his departure. Since then, he has focused on startup investments.
B&M Retail
Following his departure from Tesco, Leahy was appointed the chairman of the board of B&M Retail in December 2012. He is a senior adviser to CD&R. In 2017, it was announced that he would step down as chairman from B&M after five years. During this time, he steered the retailer on to the stock market. Revenues also rose from £993m to £2.7bn as a result of an aggressive expansion plan, which also saw its store portfolio increase from 331 shops to 893.
Honours
Leahy was knighted in 2002. He was given an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Cranfield University on 7 June 2007.
Leahy is an Everton Football Club supporter and is a special advisor to the club. He was also part of a proposed ground move to Kirkby which would have a new ground with a Tesco supermarket, a hotel, a range of high street shops and extensive car parking. This project was called in for government scrutiny and rejected when Communities secretary, John Denham, decided the £400m project would breach shopping policies which discourage supermarket chains from sucking business away from town and city centres.
Books
Leahy's book Management in 10 Words was published by Random House Business Books in June 2012.