Chief executive, Shop Direct Group

Mark Newton-Jones Chief executive Shop Direct Group

Former Next man Mark Newton-Jones has had some tough work to do since being given the task of turning round the venerable Liverpool-based home shopping giant. One of the first tasks was closing down the chain of Littlewoods high street stores, and the Barclay brothers owned business has been through some painful rationalisation to get it to a stage where there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

It hasn’t been plain sailing all the way - the company has gone noticeable quiet about the high-profile acquisition of the Woolworths brand - but overall the business has been through a remarkable transformation, going from an old-fashioned catalogue and shop business to a true multichannel player with a stable of more attractive brands and a strong web presence - it was named as Online Retailer of the Year at the 2011 Oracle Retail Week Awards, something which would have been unthinkable a few years ago.

Much of this is down to Newton-Jones. Self-assured, publicity-savvy and with a clear sense of the mission, he has turned Shop Direct into a business that rivals now take seriously again.