1 Sir Terry Leahy
Chief executive, Tesco
The driving force behind Tesco's remarkable growth since 1997 has been Sir Terry Leahy (pictured). A softly spoken Scouser and passionate Everton fan, he took up the baton from Lord MacLaurin with a smooth transition and has put a massive, some say, unsurpassable distance between Tesco and its rivals.
The supermarket chain is, without doubt, the biggest success story in UK retail in recent memory. Earlier this month, it announced it had broken through the£2 billion profit barrier, while its increased international expansion in the past few years has made it a truly global retailer.
Leahy's strategic moves have been masterstokes for Tesco and ultimately changed the retail landscape in the UK. From the invention of Clubcard to its aggressive push into non-food and its entry into the convenience market Leahy has ensured that Tesco is always one step ahead.
Well respected among peers and his colleagues alike, Leahy has remained down to earth and stays close to his Liverpool roots - he is a director of the Liverpool Vision regeneration company.
Although rarely seen in public, his dry-sense of humour is well known at Tesco's Cheshunt HQ. Joining Tesco in 1979 as a marketing executive, Leahy steadily rose up the ranks and was appointed to the Plc board in 1992 as marketing director. He graduated to deputy managing director in 1995 before landing the top job two years later.
The challenge for Leahy now is to ensure Tesco's strategy that has become, in his words, 'boringly familiar' continues to do the trick. He continues to do the job, while also facing and deflecting mounting criticism that Tesco has become too big. Leahy remains calm and assured in his response to criticism: it is the customers who are the judge and it is they who have the power to vote with their feet. It is Leahy, though, who has ensured that more and more customers are walking into Tesco.
2 Philip Green
Owner, Bhs and Arcadia
How fitting that Philip Green's idea of a Friday night commute is aboard a Gulfstream G550 to the billionaire playground of Monte Carlo.
The principality is associated with high-stakes gambling and some could say the same of Green, who created a high street empire by buying stalled retailers Bhs and Arcadia in 2000 and 2002 respectively. Who else would be audacious enough to go for a£9 billion hostile bid for Marks & Spencer, resulting in public verbal sparring with chief executive Stuart Rose. In recent weeks, he snapped up the beleaguered Etam UK chain, hoping to produce another turnaround gem.
Green became a millionaire at 33, when he sold the Jean Jeanie chain for£3 million. Described as outspoken and belligerent, he recently added philanthropic to the list of adjectives, after donating half the cost of a£20 million school for retail excellence - a joint project with the Department for Education.
With the signs that M&S will get worse before it gets better, is there a chance that Green will swoop again on the retail institution? When asked by Andrew Neil at the Retail Week Conference in March, Green deftly sidestepped the question. Such fancy footwork may yet see more names, including M&S, added to Green's expanding empire.
3 Stuart Rose
Chief executive, Marks & Spencer
Dressed in his Savile Row suit, Stuart Rose carries the future hopes of the iconic British retail business. His appointment last year saw him defend the business against a potential takeover by Philip Green. Small M&S shareholders came out in droves to support him at the AGM and in return he promised he would return M&S to the core values that made it great.
With Rose£25 million up after the sale of Arcadia, why did he take on such a task, when, presumably, the private equity hawks were begging to get him on board? To fail to understand that is to fail to understand the emotion M&S inspires, particularly for Rose, who started his career there in 1972 and stayed for 17 years.
His impressive track record is the reason so many hopes rest upon him. He had stints at Burton Group and subsequently Debenhams when it was demerged. After that, he was Argos chief executive when it was sold to GUS, then chief executive at Booker when it was sold to Iceland. He was then Arcadia boss when it was sold to Green. Despite this pattern, Rose says he is at M&S for the long haul. This time, it seems, it's personal.
4 Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson
President and chief executive officer, Baugur Group
From the humble beginnings of an Icelandic grocery discount chain founded in 1989 with his father, Baugur and Jóhannesson have flourished into powerful corporate raiders.
After 12 years, Jóhannesson now plays a back-seat role in operational retail, but a driving force in the retail investment game; identifying companies capable of turnaround and, more often than not, being the bidder that pulls off the deal to do exactly that.
Since 2002, when the group's first UK investment in Arcadia paid off, Jóhannesson has gobbled up UK businesses from fashion to food, toys to jewellery and still he shows little sign of stopping. Jóhannesson and his appetite for UK retail have shown that there is more to Iceland than Björk.
5 Terry duddy
Chief executive, Argos Retail Group
If, as many believe likely, conglomerate GUS decides to spin off Argos Retail Group (ARG) it will be tribute to the transformation skills of boss Terry Duddy. The retailer packs a mighty punch and has turned formerly dowdy catalogue store chain Argos into one of the high street's stars.
Duddy, 48, spent many years at Dixons Group before joining Argos after its acquisition by GUS in 1998. He shuns all personal publicity and describes himself as 'an operator at heart', a skill that has allowed Argos to build up sales in excess of£5 billion and become the UK's biggest general merchandise retailer by a country mile.
The demise of Barclay brothers-owned Index - and Argos's acquisition of 33 Index outlets - is testament to the retailer's dominance of its market. Argos's value-for-money proposition has affected rival general merchandisers and specialists alike.
With the£900 million acquisition of Homebase in 2002, Duddy widened ARG's offer, bolstered its buying power and threw down the gauntlet to market leader B&Q. Although like-for-like sales at ARG have slowed recently, Duddy's Argos is better placed than many to weather tougher trading conditions.
6 Andy Bond
President, Asda
Following Tony DeNunzio's resignation and departure to Dutch conglomerate Vendex, it is Andy Bond who sits in the top job at the Wal-Mart-owned supermarket chain.
Bond has risen swiftly through Asda's ranks. In 1994, he was a marketing manager, graduating to marketing director in 1998. A year later, Bond became European private label director for Asda and Wal-Mart Germany.
It was in his four years as managing director of George that Bond started to really make his mark. He took Asda's clothing business through the£1 billion sales barrier, introduced more fashionable looks and quickened lead times. He was also instrumental in formulating the George standalone stores and taking the brand worldwide via Wal-Mart.
In September last year, Bond's remit grew when he was promoted to chief operating officer. Six months later he was made president, showing the faith Wal-Mart HQ Bentonville has in his ability.
Popular with Asda colleagues, Bond comes across as a genuine, likeable man, but with Asda's sales growth slipping, Sainsbury's on the mend and Tesco as strong as ever, his retail talents will be tested to the limit.
7 Rob Templeman
Chief executive, Debenhams
Templemanshows just how well private equity can be used in the retail sector. He is a man with a Midas touch who works to transform average businesses into stellar profit-makers.
Templeman is blessed with being both close to the holders of vast sums to invest in retail businesses and well respected by retailers for his approach, which is not about asset stripping, but asset boosting. Templeman is said to be on the lookout for his next project after putting in a fantastic performance at Debenhams.
Texas Pacific, CVC Capital and Merrill Lynch Private Equity invested£600 million of equity when they outbid Permira to win Debenhams at the end of 2003, in a deal worth£1.9 billion. In the 13 weeks to February 26 this year, Debenhams pre-tax profits were up 254.7 per cent to£101.1 million compared with the same period last year.
Templeman's strategy of cost-control and more effective supply chain management is one that has already worked for the bike and car parts chain Halfords, where Templeman became chairman after CVC acquired the business. Halfords was subsequently floated and is capitalised at£678 million. And at DIY retailer Homebase, where Templeman was brought in as chief executive, Permira made close to six times its equity investment. All three businesses remain gems on the high street.
8 Sir Ken Morrison
Chairman, Morrisons
Sir Ken Morrison's no-nonsense Yorkshire style and unassailable self-belief helped him make Morrisons into one of the UK's most admired grocers. Morrisons'£3 billion takeover of Safeway took the retailer into the big league, despite integration problems that forced Sir Ken to issue his first profit warning.
For years, Morrisons' like-for-like sales were the envy of his rivals and showed that few match Sir Ken for understanding of the market. A return to form would send shivers down the spines of his competitors. At the very least, Sir Ken will go down in history as having pulled off a deal that transformed the sector.
9 Simon Wolfson
Chief executive, Next
When David Jones handed over the chief executive title to his protégé Simon Wolfson in 2001, there were some who doubted that Wolfson would last the distance. Four years on Wolfson and Next continue to produce excellent trading figures that make them the envy of the high street.
The former sales assistant, who joined Next only 10 years before ascending to the top job, may have had added power by the fact his father, Lord Wolfson of Sunningdale, was a former Next chairman. This made some suspect nepotism, but he has more than proved himself to be capable since.
10 Mervyn King
Governor, the Bank of England
The decisions overseen by Mervyn King influence the mood of shoppers and thus the whole retail sector. He is governor of the Bank of England and chairman of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the body which determines interest rates. He has been in charge of the Bank since 2003, but has been a director of it since 1990.
The MPC has presided over a generally favourable climate for retailers, with interest rates at historic lows. But, in the past year a series of rises have done nothing to help consumer confidence and with the economic outlook increasingly nervous, any decision to raise rates further will prove unpopular.
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