Specsavers’ founder receives CBE at Windsor Castle

Specsavers’ founder receives CBE at Windsor Castle

SPECSAVERS co-founder and chairman Doug Perkins was formally presented with his Commander of the British Empire title by the Princess Royal at the first investiture ceremony of the year at Windsor Castle yesterday.

Doug, who received his award for services to business and trade in the King’s Birthday Honours list last summer, was accompanied by his wife Dame Mary Perkins, who received her own honour from the late Queen in 2007 for services to business and charity in Guernsey. The were joined by their two daughters Cathryn and Julie – son John, Specsavers’ CEO, was unable to attend as numbers are restricted.

Dressed in her naval uniform, Princess Anne, 75, also handed out awards to Greggs CEO Roisin Currie, artistic director of the National Theatre Rufus Norris and BBC Radio 4 journalist Martha Kearney, while the King and Queen are on their winter break in Scotland.

Doug says that the entire experience was thrilling. ‘It was really fortuitous that the investiture was hosted by the Princess Royal as she is familiar with Specsavers, having visited our manufacturing and distribution site in Kidderminster recently. She appeared genuinely interested in the work that we do in the community and understood about our joint venture business model.

‘The entire ceremony was so well organised considering the enormous number of people attending and I came away extremely motivated by our conversation.’

Specsavers was formed by Doug and his wife Dame Mary in 1984 and is now the largest private eye and hearing care provider in the world, winning global recognition for its famous ‘Should’ve Gone to Specsavers’ strapline and humorous approach to marketing.

As well as an innovative approach to pricing and advertising, Doug applied a pioneering joint-venture partnership model to the optical industry. Each Specsavers business, which now number more than 1,000 in the UK and 3,000 businesses worldwide, is part-owned and managed by its own optometry, audiology and retail directors, who are shareholders, supported by a comprehensive supply chain and specialists in various support offices, providing services such as marketing, accounting and IT.

Doug says: ‘This award isn’t really for me – it’s recognition of the 45,000 people who work for Specsavers and our ophthalmic surgery business Newmedica and their dedication to changing people’s lives through better sight and hearing.

‘Together, we have achieved so much since we began the business more than 40 years ago from pretty humble beginnings and it’s really quite incredible that we are now offering our services to 48 million people as far afield as Canada and New Zealand, and have a robust supply chain that spans the world from the UK and Europe to Asia Pacific. None of that could have been achieved without loyal, hardworking, visionary colleagues and partners.’

Born in Llanelli, Wales, in 1943, the son of a police sergeant and a farmer’s daughter, Doug has been industrious from a young age and had jobs as an errand boy, laundry delivery driver and assistant at a local chemist. He credited this experience as instilling in him the value of hard work and inspiring in him a passion for healthcare and retail.

Doug qualified as an optometrist from Cardiff College of Advanced Technology in 1965 where he met Mary Bebbington. Together they founded Bebbington and Perkins Opticians, which they sold in 1980 before moving to the island of Guernsey to be closer to Mary’s parents, who had retired there.

Specsavers expanded into audiology in the UK in 2002 and became NHS-qualified hearing care providers in England in 2012. In 2013 Specsavers launched its UK home visit eyecare service, providing access to our eyecare services for those who are unable to visit a Specsavers practice due to physical or mental disabilities.

Doug still goes into the Guernsey office every day and travels extensively to support business growth and the industry sector as a whole.

The company was put into a family trust some years ago to ensure that it would continue to operate under the Perkins stewardship and prevent it being sold into private equity. It remains very much a family business, with son John Perkins as CEO and four of their seven grandchildren already very much involved in the organisation.

Congratulations from the Opchat News Team, Doug has truly changed the face of UK Optics and indeed worldwide as he is now doing in Audiology [ED]