Author
David Pearson
David has extensive experience with several of the great brand owners in the UK, Europe, North and South America in consumer goods, electronics and technology licensing. After graduating in Law from Oxford University he gained blue chip management development in sales and marketing with Procter& Gamble, Mars and Pillsbury. His work with Mars included an assignment in Chile where he met and married his wife Carmen.
David became Managing Director of Sony UK Consumer Products where he led the team that built sales from £150 million to £523 million in ten years. His success was rewarded by additional responsibility for a region in Western Europe and then promotion as Managing Director for the entire Sony United Kingdom company, responsible for turnover exceeding £2.2 billion and 5000 employees.
As Managing Director of International Brands for Pentland Group plc, a then FTSE 350 company, he applied these skills to the licensing of brands like Speedo and Ellesse on a global basis and also managed the Footwear license from Lacoste. For five years David was Chief Executive Officer of NXT plc, a then FTSE 350 technology licensing company specialising in Audio.
After that he built a portfolio career and served on 26 boards, six as Chairman. He acted as a Non-Executive Chairman, Director and Adviser working across all three sectors, public, private and voluntary where he provided mentoring support to the CEOs of charities. He retired in 2020.
David has been a member of the Marketing Society since 1978 and was elected Fellow in 1995 and Honorary Fellow in 2016. He was a founder member of the CBI Marketing Strategy Group and later served on the National Council. He was a member of the Duchy of Cornwall Market Advisory group that advised HRH the Prince of Wales on the launch of Duchy Originals. He has also served on the ISBA Council.
He served on the editorial board of the Journal of Brand Management and as a Governor of the University of Bedfordshire where he is now an Honorary Fellow. David was elected to the UK Marketing Hall of Fame in 1995 and made a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts the same year. In 2018 he was made an Honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Hertfordshire. He is a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Marketors and a member of the Cripplegate and Coleman Street Ward Clubs and the City Livery Club.
He enjoys reading and writing, photography and travel and has visited c70 countries. His book ‘The 20 Ps of Marketing’ was published by Kogan Page in 2013 and 1n 2017 he published a book about his year as Master, Marketing for Good is Good Marketing. His weekly blog can be found on his personal website www.davidcpearson.co.uk
