Adrian Beecroft | |
|---|---|
| Born | 20 May 1947 |
| Education | Hymers College Queen's College, Oxford Harvard Business School |
| Occupation | Angel investor |
| Spouse | Jacqueline Beecroft |
Paul Adrian Barlow Beecroft (bornYorkshire, 20 May 1947[1]) is a Britishventure capitalist based inLondon. He was for many yearsChief Investment Officer of theprivate equity groupApax. He was until recentlyChairman of Dawn Capital.[2][3]
Among the companies in which Beecroft has personally invested areMimecast and Insignis.[citation needed]
Beecroft has donated more than £500,000 to theConservative Party since 2006.[4]
Adrian Beecroft was born and raised inYorkshire. He studied atHymers College inHull.[5]
He graduated fromQueen's College, Oxford with a first class honours degree inPhysics in 1968 and is now an Honorary Fellow of the College.[6] In 1976, he gained an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he studied as aHarkness Fellow.[6] He graduated from Harvard as aBaker Scholar.[6]
Adrian Beecroft has an extensive career in venture capital and private equity, specialising in IT investments.[6] He was the Chairman of theBritish Venture Capital Association in 1991.[7]
Beecroft started his career atICL, in the computer industry.[7] In 1973, he moved to Ocean Transport and Trading Ltd., working to develop their new business area of bulk shipping.[6]
After graduating fromHarvard Business School, Beecroft joinedBoston Consulting Group inLondon. He became Vice President of BCG in 1982.[6]
In 1984, Beecroft joined Apax Partners and was there for 25 years until he retired from his role asChief Investment Officer in 2008.[7]
In December 2006, Beecroft was appointed to theNESTA Investment Committee.[8] At that time, NESTA was still aQUANGO.
Beecroft was awarded the BVCA's Hall of Fame honour at the Private Equity Awards in 2009.[6] He was a member ofSir David Walker's committee on improving the transparency of the private equity industry.[9]
In 2010, Beecroft joined Dawn Capital as the Chairman of their board.[7]
On 21 May 2012, theBeecroft Report caused considerable controversy in the UK due to its recommendations to relax regulation surrounding the dismissal of employees. The report claimed this would help to boost the economy.[10] It was alleged that significant sections of the report had been doctored.[11] It was also reported that some recommendations had been removed from the original draft of the report.[11] On 21 May,Secretary of State for BusinessVince Cable condemned the report, saying it was unnecessary for the government to scare workers.[12] Beecroft responded by accusing Cable of being a socialist.[13] He referenced his own experience of having to pay £150,000 for unfairly dismissing an HR employee as one of the many reasons behind the recommendation in the report.[14]
Beecroft helped to found and funds the Beecroft Institute of Particle Physics and Cosmology (BIPAC)[5] atOxford University.[15] He has also part-funded theBeecroft Building, part of theDepartment of Physics in Oxford. This new building is specifically focused ontheoretical,condensed matter andquantum physics. According toThe Daily Telegraph, the funding for this building was inspired by Beecroft's interest inastrophysics.[16][5]
Beecroft has supported his school, Hymers College in Hull.[5] He has also been a Trustee of Impetus Trust, a social impact charity.[5] For six years, Beecroft was also the Chairman of the Cricket Foundation, now known asChance to Shine, a charity focused on bringing cricket back into British state school education.[17]
Through the Beecroft Trust, Adrian and his wife sponsor theOxford Academy, an Academy school serving a very deprived area of Oxford.[18] Since becoming an Academy school in 2010, its results have improved dramatically from 14% of the students achieving five A* to C grades including English and Maths to 56% achieving this in 2017. However, in 2019, only 17% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above at GCSE and the school had the worst Attainment 8 and Progress 8 scores of any mainstream school in Oxfordshire.[19] In December 2019, the Head and governing body were removed after anOFSTED inspection.[20]
Beecroft has also supported theUNESCO initiative to preserve theBelize Barrier Reef Reserve System, which was classified as in danger on the UNESCO List of World Heritage in Danger in 2009.[21] As of June 2018, theWorld Heritage Committee decided to remove the Belize Barrier Reef, which is the world's second largest coral reef, from the list.[22]
Beecroft lives inLondon and supportsLord's Cricket Ground as aMarylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Trustee.[23] As a trustee one of his core roles is assisting with the appointment of the Chairman, but also overseeing the wellbeing of the club and cricket ground.[24] His enthusiasm for the sport came from watching theYorkshire County team play in Hull.[23] He is the President of Cropredy Cricket Club for whom he still plays league cricket.[25]
Beecroft is a supporter of theNorth Yorkshire Moors Railway of which he is a Vice-President. He is a keen auto-enthusiast, having an extensive collection of vehicles, including severalAston Martins, most notably aDBR1 which he races at a number of motoring events and later crashed in 2015.[26] He is a governor ofHymers College in Hull.
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