Martin McCourt has spent over 40 years working at the heart of British-based manufacturing, design and marketing for quality brands such as Dyson, Mars, Duracell, Toshiba and Pelikan.
Martin was the CEO of Dyson for 15 years, the ideas to market-leading consumer products maker. As CEO, he devised and implemented a strategy that transformed the company from a single product, single market producer into one where 80% of the business comes from over 60 markets around the world. In that time he increased UK skilled jobs, grew profits to over £300m and enabled James Dyson to keep on inventing. In 2011 Dyson hit £1bn revenue for the first time. Martin was directly responsible for the establishment of Dyson subsidiaries in the USA, Japan, Switzerland, Austria and Germany. In total he took Dyson into over 60 markets, achieving market leadership in the majority including the USA.
Martin’s previous experience was in sales and marketing with successful global companies Mars, Duracell, Toshiba and Pelikan.
In 2010 Martin was named UK Business Leader of the Year.
In April 2017 Martin was appointed Chairman of The Dudson Group. Operating since 1800, Dudson continues to manufacture ceramic tableware in Stoke-on-Trent, England today. With over 200 years’ experience in ceramics they are a world leading specialist in the design and production of tableware to the global hospitality market.
Also he is Chairman of Glen Dimplex Group, founded over 40 years ago. The company is a leading international group, the world’s largest manufacturer of electrical heating and it holds significant global market positions in domestic appliances, cooling, ventilation and renewable energy solutions. Additionally, he is Chairman of The Learning Curve Group, an organization providing vocational education and training programmes to a wide range of learners and employers and Venture Founders, a UK-based equity investment platform designed to make Angel and Venture Capital style investing more accessible, affordable and transparent.
He was formerly Chairman of CAP, a market leading provider of vehicle valuation data, new vehicle information and business solutions to the automotive industry, CliniSys Group (CliniSys), the market leading supplier in Europe of clinical laboratory information management systems (LIMS), D.O.R.C (Dutch Ophthalmic Research Center) a prominent provider of innovative instruments and equipment for ophthalmic surgery and Equatex the foremost supplier of international employee and executive compensation plan services.
Additionally, Martin is on the Board of Your Life. A three-year campaign to ensure young adults in the UK have the maths and science skills needed to succeed in the current competitive global economy. He is a Non-Executive Director and investor for Headbox, a web based platform which enables the sharing of inspiring places for people to have meetings and he is also a Non-Executive Director of Ideas Britain, a mobile platform which connects young people with great ideas to expert business coaches and brands.
"I just wanted to say thank you! Yesterday’s opening was perfect and I am receiving endless compliments on your session both for the content and for your ability to connect with the group so easily (as I knew you would) Always an inspirational leader and communicator."
Novartis
"From our side, we found your presentation to be insightful, engaging, humorous, as well as having a great clarity of message. I am pleased to say, as you can see below, that YKK is delighted with your contribution. It was much appreciated that you took the time to tailor your presentation to the situation, as well as making it very relevant by providing real-life examples so the audience was able to relate and take your message on board. Additionally, the participants valued the fact that you were very generous with your time and able to answer their questions in a thoughtful and inspiring way. Those were very valuable moments for them."
YKK
"2Thank you so much for your contribution, the events have been a huge success and the feedback from all of the customers and colleagues that watched you present has been nothing short of adulation!"
JJ Marketing
“On behalf of everyone here at the Government Innovation Group, I’d like to thank you for taking the time to speak at our training day.
Your speech was incredibly valuable in helping us to prepare for the challenges that lie ahead, and the insights and perspective you were able to give us will, without doubt, impact our future thinking.
For us, the day was a huge success and has given the group renewed energy and new ideas and your contribution play a big part in that."
Cabinet Office