23 David Walmsley

Walmsley, who took up his role at Currys and PC World-owner Dixons Retail in October 2009, is an old hand in the young world of online business.

He built his first website back in 1994 and has spent his entire career in digital commerce, ranging from marketing business Yell to privately run financial services specialist Xbridge, before specialising in etail since 2007 - the year that he joined John Lewis as head of web selling and customer services.

He says: “My approach is to focus on developing talented and passionate people, organising simple structures that have clear lines of accountability and ownership of the customer and our commercial goals.

“An iterative, fact-based approach to developing the customer experience and merchandising is critical to achieving a best-in-class online operation.”

A Cambridge history graduate, Walmsley enjoyed theatre directing as a student - “a little Greek tragedy, some French existential angst”.

These days the only angst he is likely to suffer is continuing to successfully navigate the fast changing world of ecommerce. Last year, Dixons’ ecommerce sales - including Pixmania - climbed 14% to £921.2m and underlying operating profit was £11.3m.