Past Featured Chairmen

Jon Richards, the first-class mathematician who was running an IT company at 25 and retired - for the first time - at 40.

At the age of just 25, just four years after graduating from university with a first in mathematics, Jon Richards was given his first management job - as managing director. It was to be the first of many. Indeed by the time he was 40, when most executives are taking their first tentative steps in the boardroom, Richards was retiring - at least temporarily.

Swooped up by GEC on graduation with a first in mathematics, Richards started his career as a programmer 'not a very good one either,' he says. 'I never enjoyed it much. I was much better at fixing other people's bugs than writing my own code,' he confesses.

But life in the vast GEC was, says Richards, stultifying. After two years he was looking around when a small ad in the trade press caught his eye. 'It was for a small company - Miles 33 - and it seemed to be everything that GEC was not. Rather gratifyingly I went for the interview and was hired on the spot.

'It was an exciting place. The majority of the company were under 30. I thrived. We were selling solutions for the printing and legal industries on old Data General mini computers.
'I concentrated more on bug-fixing than writing code, and as a lot of this was done on the clients premises I was also responsible for collecting the money. That commercial behaviour was unusual for a programmer.'

His business acumen was spotted and when the owner decided to take a back seat in the company, it was Richards to whom he turned. 'I was given charge of the company. My job was to grow the company at 50% compound.' And he did. The company grew from strength to strength, through the old Unlisted Securities Market through to full listing.

But as the PC grew Richards' demanding growth targets became increasingly challenging and eventually the company was sold to UEI Plc.

At the age of 29 Richards joined the board of £100m+ public company.

'I was very much the junior boy, but coming from the IT industry, that was sort of accepted.' It was to be a formative experience. From the relatively benign atmosphere of Miles 33, the board of UEI was riven with internal politics. 'There were a lot of powerful voices in that board room'.

Eventually UEI itself was bought by Carlton, and briefly Richards found himself on their board. It lasted six weeks before he found himself out of a job. Richards, along with three colleagues were approached by Warburgs [merchant bank] to help rescue the ailing Cray Electronics Plc.

Staking substantial amounts of their own cash, the four set about turning the company round. 'It was, without a doubt, the hardest period of my working life. It was far worse than we could have imagined.'

The Group was close to bankruptcy, 300% geared and required a drastic turnaround. The four set about drastically restructuring the group. 'At one point I had 35 direct reports.'

Some 25 disposals and three acquisitions took place from 1989 to 1997 repositioning what was a highly diverse group into an Information Technology business with two divisions.

Cray had been in the datacoms sector, but a fledgling company by the name of Cisco, appeared on the scene and was soon on the road to the leviathan it was to become. Realising they could not compete the group moved to become a network integrator.

'By 1997 I was ready to get out. I was just about to turn 40 and had been through a very hard time.'

Richards left Cray and for two years did, well, just about nothing. 'And I loved doing it. I moved to Belgium and enjoyed the freedom '

But a man with Richards' profile can not remain off the radar for long, and soon the 'phone was ringing with job offers. It was clear that he was not ready to retire just yet. He started to pick up non-executive positions on a number of boards. He now has an impressive portfolio of companies across the IT sector.

'If I am honest, I only enjoy the chairman's role. I enjoy being a mentor and partner to the CEO. It is a largely unseen role if done well.'

For Richards the chairman's role is two fold - one to support and mentor the CEO, the other to run the boardroom itself. 'A good chairman is able to bring the talents of the board to a focus.

Sometimes, if you have VCs on the board, there are differing objectives. Part of your role is to reconcile that and achieve the best interests for the shareholders.

'You are also there to support - or remove - the CEO. I have had to remove a few, and it is an unpleasant business, but you have always to think of the interests of the shareholders. Supporting a CEO, I will usually speak to each one every couple of days to see how things are going, what are the issues, and how can I help.

'The position of CEO is a very challenging one. You are looking for someone with energy, drive, often - but not always - charisma. It is hard to define what makes a good CEO, but often you just know if someone has it, or they don't.'

When it comes to running the board, Richards is scathing of directors who take the pay, but don't do the work. 'I don't want people who are going to turn up for the meeting, not having read the [discussion] papers. A board meeting where people just sit around talking without achieving anything is just wasting time. A board needs to concentrate on the things that concern it. Being presented with a list of sales prospects and talking through them is the job of management, not the board.'

Richards has only one anomaly on his very impressive CV. He spent three years as chairman of the old National Council for Educational Technology (now BECTA) reporting to the education minister. 'I learned there is no place for me in politics', he laughed., 'It was an exercise in abstract chairing, keeping the great and the good in line. I think the best thing that can be said was that I kept the meetings short.'

Having completed one career by the time he was 40, it appears that Richards is enjoying himself too much to consider retiring from his second one any time soon. For those lucky enough to be able to call on his experience and skills, that must come as a great relief.

Ben Rooney is a freelance business journalist. Ben can be contacted at ben@benrooney.com