Kevin Gaskell See kevingaskell.com. British. Born Macclesfield, England, 1958. Connahs Quay High School 1973-77. Undergraduate of the University of Bradford in Civil and Structural Engineering 1977-81; Scholarship MBA student at the Bradford School of Management 1982-83. RM Douglas Construction Ltd, Civil Engineer, 1977-84. Dow Corning Ltd, Management Accountant, 1984-1987.
Joined Porsche GB Ltd in 1987, appointed Managing Director in 1992, aged 33. Over the next five years he was responsible for the turnaround of the UK business and the growth and the redevelopment of the Porsche marque. Converted a loss making business into the UK's most profitable car company. 1995-96 concurrently Managing Director of Lamborghini GB Ltd. In 1996 he took the position of Managing Director of BMW (GB) Ltd with responsibility for all UK operations. He led the business to three successive years of record growth. In 1999 BMW sales in the UK exceeded GBP1.5 billion.
In 1998 Gaskell was recognised as one of the top 40 managers under 40 in the United Kingdom.
He left BMW in 2000 to take up the position of European CEO of CarsDirect.com. In late 2000 he contributed to the start up of epyx Limited, the developer of 1link, the UK’s leading fleet sector ecommerce platform, where he held a seat on the board from 2001 - 2009. He joined EurotaxGlass's as Group CEO in April 2001 and led the expansion and growth of the company into 30 countries. In 2006 he conducted an MBO of the EurotaxGlass's group supported by Candover in a deal worth over EUR480 million. He stepped down from operational responsibility in December 2007 when he became non-executive President of the Group. In March 2010 he left the EurotaxGlass's Group to concentrate on other interests.
In 2008 he was appointed Chairman of Achilles Group Limited, a multinational provider of procurement data and audit services. In 2010 he was appointed Chairman of Courland Automotive the global automotive sector executive search consultants. He is a partner in Admetam GmbH a corporate development and restructuring consultancy based in Germany and an associate partner in DDA Consulting International, a leading international provider of management skills development and experiential team building and training.
Gaskell is a regular international speaker on aspects of corporate leadership, brand development, improving company performance and achieving success in a hostile environment - see www.kevingaskell.com .
In 2006 he was part of a team that walked unaided to the North Pole to raise funds for cancer research. In 2009, together with his 18 year old son, he completed an unsupported trek to the South Pole to raise further funds for cancer research. In doing so his son became one of the youngest to achieve this feat. To celebrate his 40th birthday he spent four weeks climbing on Everest. In 2010 he climbed Kilimanjaro. He is currently attempting the 'seven summits'.
Having played representative cricket at county and international level he is now a keen skier, scuba diver, shoots clays/game and plays in a rock band The Hods for relaxation.
See www.kevingaskell.com, Facebook kevin-gaskell, Twitter #kevindgaskell
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—James Kevin McGuinness, and John Ford. Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke (John Wayne)
“How easy it is to judge rightly after one sees what evil comes from judging wrongly!”
—Elizabeth Gaskell (1810–1865)