John Timpson

John Timpson was born in 1943 and was educated at Oundle and Nottingham University.

After a six month Graduate Training Scheme with C & J Clark at Street, he joined the family footwear business William Timpson Limited, becoming the Director responsible for buying in 1970.

Following the acquisition of the Company by the UDS Group in 1973, he became Managing Director of leather and fur retailers, Swears & Wells Limited and in 1975 was appointed Managing Director of William Timpson his original family business.

In 1983 he led a £42m management buyout of the Company which had become part of the Hanson Trust.  In 1987 he sold the shoe shops to rival retailer George Oliver and subsequently concentrated on building up the shoe repairing and key cutting business, which he has diversified into engraving, watch repairs, dry cleaning and photo processing.

In September 1995 he acquired the 120 shop Automagic chain and in April 2003 bought Minit UK which added another 200 shoe repair shops.  In June 2008 the company acquired over 40 Sainsbury concessions, trading as Persil Services, and in December 2008 bought 187 shops branded Kick and Max Spielmann.  Timpson now has over 800 branches nationwide with a turnover of £150m and profits of over £10m. It is a private business wholly owned by John Timpson and his family.

Mr Timpson has been married to his wife Alex for 41 years and they live in Cheshire.   They have five children Victoria (40), James (37), Edward (35), together with Oliver (33) and Henry (21).

Mr & Mrs Timpson were foster carers for 29 years during which time they fostered over 80 children.

He is a Trustee at Uppingham School and until its merger with the NSPCC was a trustee of ChildLine.  He has also been Chair of the Governors at Brookway High School, Wythenshawe, Delamere Primary School, Cheshire and Terra Nova School, Jodrell Bank.

In 2000 he wrote a book ‘Dear James,’ which passes on to his son the lessons learned in 30 years as a Chief Executive.  He describes his business philosophy in his latest book ‘How to Ride a Giraffe.

For 10 years he has had his own column under the name ‘Timpo’ in the magazine Real Business and is a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph.

John is in demand for an increasing number of speaking engagements talking about his unique business style which he calls ‘Upside-down Management.’

In 2004 he was awarded the CBE in the Birthday Honours List for Services to the Retail Sector.

Mr Timpson’s main leisure interests outside the business are connected with sport, he regularly plays Tennis, Golf and Real Tennis.

James Timpson

James Timpson is Managing Director of Timpson, a family retail business based in Manchester.

Through 625 shops across the UK and Ireland Timpson is the largest shoe repairer, key cutter, engraver and watch repairer. Over 3000 colleagues run the shops within an "upside down management" structure which Timpson has developed to ensure those serving customers are the most important in the business; everyone else is there to help.

Max Speilmann consists of 200 photo processing stores and is a recent addition to the Timpson family.

Before and after Durham University James worked in all areas of the business from branch manager to area manager until joining the Timpson House team.

James and his father John have created a unique business culture that is based on recruiting personalities and giving them complete authority to run their shops however they want. Timpson is well known as being a great place to work and has recently purchased a seaside hotel to increase the number of holiday homes for colleagues.

James is married to Roisin and with their three children live near Chester.

Alex Timpson

Alex Timpson, born in 1946, was a self confessed teacher’s nightmare – preferring the sport and social side of school life to the classroom, but she gained sufficient O Levels to join Wellgarth College in London, where she trained to be a nursery nurse – the career she was following when she met and subsequently married husband John.

In 1978, Alex answered a local authority advert seeking new foster carers, and, with John fostered nearly 90 children over the next 29 years while bringing up 5 children of their own.

Outsiders have been unaware of the influence Alex has had on the Timpson business – she defiantly backed John against his fellow directors in the boardroom coup that ousted his father as Chairman in 1972. She pushed John all the way on his journey to a management buyout in 1983 and was instrumental in stopping the attempt to float the company in 1991 – a decision that in hindsight can only be described as ‘inspired’.

Today Alex is The White Eagle Chief Executive – having spotted the potential of a country pub – which, under her guidance, has seen its turnover grow from £200k to £1.2m in under 3 years – she has now added another pub in Rhosneigr to her portfolio.

Alex has played a vital role in the development of today’s Timpson business, but her MBE, received in The 2006 Birthday Honours, was awarded in recognition of her contribution as a foster carer – the values she has brought to family life have had a major influence on our family business.