Chief executive, Arcadia
Despite his promotion to chief executive in late 2009, Sir Philip Green’s enforcer and right-hand man has maintained his customary low profile in his new role. In fact, a search for mentions of Ian Grabiner in the press over the past year yield many more mentions of his daughter Jenna’s 18th birthday party, which was the talk of Scotland last summer, with popstar Pixie Lott performing.
Grabiner will have hated the publicity - unlike his boss he has no desire to be in the public eye - but ask Green and he will tell you how vital Grabiner has been to the success of his businesses.
Grabiner has spent more than 30 years in the fashion industry, and while he can be utterly charming, rather like Green he also is renowned for taking no prisoners when he doesn’t like something.
He is relentlessly focused on managing costs and runs the tightest of ships at Arcadia, a handy skill with tradinganecdotally extremely difficult in fashion at present. He has successfully merged Bhs into the core Arcadia group, inserting Arcadia brands into the Bhs stores, and has been the driving force behind the work to give Bhs a more dynamic look.
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