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Nick Read (Post Office CEO)

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This article is about the British businessman born in 1966. For the British businessman born in 1964, see Nick Read. For other people with similar names, see Nicholas Read (disambiguation).

Read in 2020

Nicholas James Read (born March 1966)[1] is a British business executive who has been CEO of Post Office Limited since September 2019. Previously he held senior positions in several customer-facing businesses, and was CEO of Nisa from 2015 to 2017.

Early life

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Read was born in Hanover, Germany, the son of a soldier.[2][3] He was educated at Ampleforth College and RMA Sandhurst.[2] After Sandhurst, he was commissioned in August 1986[4] into the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards, progressing to lieutenant in August 1988.[5] In August 1989 he was transferred to the Territorial Army,[6] where he gained the rank of captain in October 1993.[7]

Business career

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After leaving the Army in 1993, Read worked for Aldi UK and Deloitte Consulting, and held senior positions at Tesco, Vodafone, HBOS, Lloyds Banking Group, Vodafone, and then Thomas Cook,[3] where he was group customer service director.[8] He received an MBA from Cranfield in 1998.[9]

In February 2015, he was appointed as CEO of the shopkeeper-owned Nisa convenience store group,[8] where he led what was described as a "hard-fought turnaround".[2] He was then involved in the sale of the business to the Co-op group, agreed in November 2017 and completed the next year.[10] From April 2018 he was CEO at Extra Energy,[11] which ceased trading in November of that year, around the same time as a number of other small energy suppliers collapsed.[12]

In September 2019, Read took up the role of CEO at Post Office Limited after Paula Vennells stepped down.[11] His appointment came at a time when the Post Office was ceasing to receive government subsidy, and when long-running litigation came to a head concerning actions (including prosecutions) taken by the Post Office against self-employed subpostmasters, based on flawed evidence from the Horizon IT system.[2] During 2019, a series of judgments was issued in a group litigation against the Post Office by 555 subpostmasters,[2] in which the Post Office agreed to pay £58 million and incurred £43 million in legal costs.[3][13] Alan Bates, one of the lead claimants, praised Read for his efforts "to reset the relationship between the Post Office and its sub-postmasters".[2]

In August 2023, Read apologised for "mistakes" made by the Post Office when it linked executives' bonus payments to their work related to the public inquiry into the miscarriage of justice. He said he would voluntarily return an amount (reported to be £54,400) from the £455,000 bonus he received for the 2021–22 financial year.[14] In January 2024, he gave evidence to Parliament's Business and Trade Committee,[15] which led to a dispute over details of his oral replies.[16]

In July 2024, Read decided to step back from his CEO role in order to prepare for the next phase of the public inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal, due to begin in September and examine current practices at the Post Office.[17]

Personal life

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He is married to Clare and they have three sons.[2] In 2020 he lived near Andover, Hampshire.[2]

References

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  1. ^ "Nicholas James Read: Appointments". Companies House. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Cambridge, Lyndsey (4 December 2020). "Nick Read Big Interview: making the Post Office pay". The Grocer. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  3. ^ a b c Lea, Robert (15 January 2021). "Making the Post Office a complete package in new era of ecommerce". The Times. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  4. ^ "No. 50683". The London Gazette. 13 October 1986. pp. 13259–13260.
  5. ^ "No. 51433". The London Gazette. 9 August 1988. pp. 9013–9014.
  6. ^ "No. 51860". The London Gazette. 4 September 1989. p. 10213.
  7. ^ "No. 53716". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 27 June 1994. p. 9261.
  8. ^ a b Bowden, Grace (5 January 2015). "Nisa names Nick Read as chief executive as it ramps up expansion plans". Retail Week. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  9. ^ "Alumni in the media January to March 2021". Cranfield University. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  10. ^ Kollewe, Julia (13 November 2017). "Co-op buys Nisa for £143m after members back takeover". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  11. ^ a b Clark, Jessica (18 July 2019). "Post Office appoints ex-Nisa boss Nick Read as chief executive". CityAM. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  12. ^ "Extra Energy collapse is the sixth this year". BBC News. 21 November 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  13. ^ Scully, Paul. "Letter from Minister for Small Business". committees.parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 19 January 2024. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  14. ^ Neate, Rupert (23 August 2023). "Post Office boss to give back bonus linked to Horizon scandal inquiry". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  15. ^ "Post Office and Horizon – Compensation: follow-up – Oral evidence". UK Parliament. 16 January 2024. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  16. ^ Hall, Sam (7 March 2024). "Post Office chief Nick Read denies supplying 'misleading evidence' to MPs". The Independent. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  17. ^ "Post Office chief steps back from role to focus on Horizon inquiry". The Guardian. 12 July 2024. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
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