The Chairman of Silentnight Group, Adrian Fawcett, has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate at a Birmingham City University graduation ceremony in early September, which celebrated the achievements of students graduating from the Birmingham Business School and Institute of Art and Design.
Adrian is an experienced chairman, chief executive officer, non-executive director and business investor with a track record of running and significantly accelerating business performance; leading companies to be the number one in their sectors.
Chairman of some well known successful companies including Park Holidays UK; Liberis – business friendly finance and Smith Jones Solicitors; Adrian was previously CEO & Vice-President of a number of FTSE 100 and international companies including GHG, Punch Taverns plc, Interbrew plc and Bass Brewers plc through successful periods of their growth, development and valuations. Adrian started out as an economist with an early career with Ford and Mars Confectionary.
His business career has included successfully undertaking over £5b of mergers and acquisitions, as well as having been a non-executive director of the Department of Work and Pensions with its £175b annual spend.
Adrian was voted 2014 finalist in the Sunday Times Non-Executive Director of the Year, having previously been awarded the ‘Institute of Directors’ Large Company Young Director of the Year and ‘Business Insider’ Entrepreneurial Director of the Year.
On being honoured by Birmingham City University he said: “It is a pleasure to have been recognised with this honour. I am extremely passionate and enthusiastic about business and people development, and have been very fortunate to have spent time with many leading organisations in my career. In fact, for the last the years I have been working with the management team at the Silentnight Group overseeing a total re-structure which has taken this great company – one of the UK’s rare super-brands – to even greater heights in the extremely tough and competitive bed and mattress market.”
