Draft:Neil Clifford
British businessman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Neil Charles Clifford (born February 1967) is an English businessman and since 2003 chief executive of Kurt Geiger.[1][2]
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Early life
Neil Charles Clifford was born in February 1967, the youngest of three brothers.[2] His father, a gas fitter, died when Clifford was four. His mother raised him and his brothers in Portsmouth.[2] Clifford attended Mayfield Comprehensive School, where he left in 1983 with only a C-grade in O-level in art.[3][2][4][5] In retrospect, Clifford described himself on leaving school as "a master of nothing".[2]
Career
In August 1983 after leaving school, Clifford took up a job in the parts department of a Fiat car dealership, found at a job centre as part of the Youth Training Scheme.[5] Alongside this, he cleaned bathrooms and worked at a local funfair for extra income.[2][5] Clifford left his position at the Fiat car dealership to work for a hardware store, delivering paraffin.[2] Clifford left this to work for Burton at a local branch of Debenhams, after obtaining an interview through a friend.[5] While working for Burton, Clifford sought career advice from Sir Ralph Halpern, then chief executive of the company, who he noticed would walk through showroom floor most Saturdays.[2][5] Clifford then moved to London in 1986, following Halpern's advice, in order to pursue a higher-ranking position in the fashion industry, becoming the youngest area manager for Principles, another Halpern-owned business.[2][5]
Clifford worked for Halpern until 1993, by which time he was head of merchandising for Burton.[2] In 1995 or 1996, Clifford began working for Kurt Geiger.[2][5] He worked for the company as retail director, buying director, managing director, and between 2001 and 2003 in Switzerland managing Bally shoes and accessories, a Kurt Geiger-owned fashion house.[2] Clifford became chief executive of Kurt Geiger in 2003, he states after persuasion from the Fayed family, then owners of the brand.[2]
Under Clifford as chief executive, Kurt Geiger was sold to the private equity firm Graphite Capital for £95m in 2008, and again in 2011 to Jones Group for £215m.[6] Clifford retained his position as chief executive after the sale, as well as his stake in the company.[6] Clifford also developed Kurt Geiger online, which as of 2015 accounted for £1m of the brand's weekly sales.[2] Clifford also founded the Kurt Geiger Business by Design scheme, a paid training scheme which is a skills-focussed and not based on degree requirements.[3] As of 2025, the scheme had employed 2,000 people.[3]
On 1 April 2015 Clifford was one of 103 businesspeople who wrote to The Telegraph praising the British Conservative Party's economic policies and claiming a Labour government would "threaten jobs and deter investment" in Britain.[7]
Personal life
As of 2015, Clifford lived in Buckinghamshire with his wife and three children.[2] Clifford is a car enthusiast and member of the weekly Chris Harris Car Podcast.[2][8] Clifford has a large and varied collection of cars, including a Bristol Fighter which he bought in July 2008, one of around 13 such models ever built.[2] In 2015, Clifford said that he regularly visits Mayfield School, which he attended as Mayfield Comprehensive School, helping the students "develop business acumen and career goals"; he has also funded kitchens and outdoor areas for the school.[2] Clifford is dyslexic.[5]