Richard Burrows

For the Australian footballer, see Dick Burrows.

Richard George William Burrows (born 16 January 1946) is an Irish businessman. He is the chairman of British American Tobacco plc (informally BAT), the world's largest tobacco company by sales, and former chief executive of Irish Distillers.^[2] In October 2016, Burrows became the chairman of Craven House Capital, an AIM-listed company that specializes in restructuring, expansion and turnaround investments in crisis and transitioning economics.^[3]

Richard Burrows
Born	Richard George William Burrows (1946-01-16) 16 January 1946 (age 78)
Nationality	Irish
Education	Wesley College (Dublin)
Occupation	Businessman
Years active	1967–present
Title	Former chairman of British American Tobacco
Term	2009–2021
Predecessor	Jan du Plessis
Board member of	Rentokil Initial, CityJet, Carlsberg Group, Pernod Ricard[1]

Early life

Burrows is a graduate of Wesley College (Dublin).

Career

Burrows joined accounting firm Stokes Brothers & Pim (which later became part of KPMG) at the age of 17 as a trainee accountant.^[4] Burrows was seconded to Irish Distillers to assist in a proposed merger with Waterford Glass, P.J. Carroll & Co. and the Irish Glass Bottle Company. In 1971 he joined Irish Distillers full-time and became its chief executive in 1978.^[4] Irish Distillers was acquired by Pernod-Ricard S.A. in 1988^[5] and Burrows later became joint CEO of Pernod-Ricard.^[4]

Burrows became Governor (that is, chairman) of the Bank of Ireland in 2006, a post from which he resigned in June 2009.^[6]

Burrows joined the board of British American Tobacco plc as a non-executive director in September 2009 and became chairman on 1 November 2009.^[7] He stood down as chairman and retired from the board at the company's 28 April 2021 AGM, and was succeeded by Luc Jobin.^[8]

Honours and awards

In June 1996, he was made a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honour.^[1]

Notes

1. "Executive Profile: Richard Burrows". Business Week. Archived from the original on 9 October 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
2. David, Ruth (16 November 2016). "Reynolds American wants BAT to up offer". Business World. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
3. Burke, Rolsin (9 October 2016). "Richard Burrows becomes chair of Craven House Capital". The Business Post. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
4. McCaffrey, Una (24 February 2006). "Burrows unruffled by whiff of whiskey treason". Irish Times.
5. "Pernod-Ricard Bid Prevails In Battle for Irish Distillers". New York Times. 25 November 1988.
6. Wachman, Richard (26 November 2010). "Ireland bailout: Banker who got out just in time". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
7. "BAT>About us>Board of Directors: Richard Burrows, Chairman". BAT. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
8. "Markets- British American Tobacco Appoints Luc Jobin To Succeed Richard Burrows As Chairman". Nasdaq. 15 October 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2021.