Early Career
After studying history at Cambridge University, where he was a foundation scholar, he attended London and Harvard business schools before joining Boston Consulting Group, which advises on corporate strategy, in the mid-70s. In 1982, he joined electrical retailer Dixons, where he became group Financial Controller and Corporate Finance Director.
He left after five years to be Group Finance Director at international building materials firm Redland. In 1993, he became Group Finance Director of Grand Metropolitan, the food and drink giant. In February 1996 in The Mail on Sunday, Patience Wheatcroft identified Corbett as one of business' "high powered hot shots" who would lead British business into the new millennium.
When "Grand Met" merged with Guinness to form Diageo, in summer 1997 he left and was appointed Chief Executive of Railtrack, which he left in November 2000.
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