After qualifying with Price Waterhouse, he moved into industry and commerce where he spent eight years in the Lloyds Insurance market as Group FD/CFO of first CE Heath and then Willis. For the next 10 years, he was Group FD/CFO of BICC (manufacturing and construction) and then Group FD/CFO of Midland Bank Group. He then became CEO of retailer Storehouse and then chairman of First Choice Holidays whilst also being a non-executive director of Guinness for 10 years, until the merger of Guinness and GrandMet, when it was re-named Diageo.