Justin King

Justin King is a businessman entrepreneur and speaker, primarily known for being the former CEO of J Sainsbury’s, the parent company of supermarket chain Sainsbury's. Justin King is an ideal speaker for corporate events and conferences touching on topics that range from business management to innovation. With an impressive resume, Justin has previously worked for Pepsi-Cola International, Mars, ASDA and Marks & Spencers. However, most notably, Justin managing director of the introduction of ice cream brand Häagen-Dazs to the UK. In 2004, Justin joined Sainsbury's, in a last-chance bid for change for the company. Justin actioned a recovery programme for the company under the banner, “Make Sainsbury’s Great Again”.

As a result of this campaign, Justin managed to win back market shares after recording twelve consecutive quarters of sales growth, thus achieving its target growth in sales three months ahead of schedule. This incredible success for Sainsbury’s etched Justin’s name into business history. Having spent a decade as the CEO of J Sainsbury's, Justin stepped down from the role in 2014, and has since gone on to be vice-chair of private equity firm Terra Firma, where he oversees retail businesses from cinema chains to garden centres.

An award-winning business leader, Justin King was named Most Admired Business Leader by Management Today and Britain’s Most Impressive Businessman in the IPSOS-MORI Captains of Industry Report. Justin was also one of the youngest CEOs in the FTSE 100 history when he took the CEO role at J Sainsbury’s, and has since become one of the greatest success stories of modern British business. Furthermore, in 2011, Justin was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to the retail industry.

Tackling a variety of discussion topics, Justin explores his own experiences and lessons learnt in order to help provide advice on great leadership, ethical business, business change and more. Within this, he often refers to his list of ‘ten Cs’ for great leadership which breaks down key points to obtain and maintain great leadership. Understanding what it takes to revolutionise a business and bring it back from the brink, Justin goes through his processes during his time at Sainsbury's and how audiences can do the same for their own businesses, whether it's understanding the shifts in the retail landscape, diversifying into general merchandise, branding innovation or online retail. Champions Speakers is proud to be an official speaker representative of Justin King, honoured to have clients hire him via us as an official speaker agent.