Born in 1956, Terry Leahy was educated at St Edwards College, Liverpool before studying at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) where he gained his BSc (Hons) in Management Sciences.

Terry had worked briefly stacking shelves in Tesco during school holidays and after graduating from UMIST, returned in 1979 as a marketing executive.

He was appointed to the board in 1992 and became Chief Executive in 1997.

Terry was chosen as Britain's Business Leader of the Year in 2003, Fortune Magazine's European Businessman of the Year in 2004 and received a Knighthood for services to food retailing in the 2002 New Year Honours.