Lance Batchelor

Summary

Lance Batchelor (born 1964) is a British businessman and former naval officer. He is the chairman of Royal Museums Greenwich and several Private Equity and Venture Capital owned companies, including Ometria (Octopus VC) Appello (Epiris LLP) and Aurora (HIG Capital). He is also a Non-Executive Director on the Royal Navy board.[1]

Lance Batchelor
Born1964
Alma materAberystwyth University
Harvard Business School
OccupationBusinessman

Lance was the CEO of Saga Plc from March 2014 until February 2020. He led the design, build and introduction of two new cruise ships, Spirit of Discovery and Sprit of Adventure.[2]

During his time as CEO, Saga introduced new three-year fixed-price home and motor insurance policies[3] which sold over half a million policies in the first year[4] and reduced customer churn. Saga also significantly reduced its insurance margins,[5] stabilising market share. However, as a result the company profitability dropped and the share price declined significantly below the IPO level.[6]

He was previously the CEO of Domino's Pizza Group until February 2014, having initially joined the company's Board in July 2010. During Batchelor's tenure the share price rose from 370p to 589p. The share price dropped over 5% in December 2013 when he resigned to join Saga.[7]

Before this, Batchelor was the CEO of Tesco Mobile (2007–11), Marketing Director of Vodafone (2002–06), a General Manager at Amazon.com (2000-2002) and a Marketing Director at Procter & Gamble (1991-2000).[8] In 2010 Batchelor was named one of the 50 most influential people in UK Mobile.[9][10]

Lance is a former submarine warfare officer in the Royal Navy.[11] He is now the Lead Non-Executive Director on the navy board. He holds the honorary rank of Captain RN.[12] He is an Elder Brother of Trinity House.[13]

In the charity sector, Lance is Vice Chairman of the White Ensign Association[14] and a Vice Patron of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity (RNRMC). He is also the Chairman of Action against Gambling Harms, a charity which conducts research to help understand and mitigate harm.[15] In January 2011, he was appointed a Trustee of The National Gallery by David Cameron, the UK Prime Minister. This role ended in February 2019.[16]

Lance is a graduate and an Honorary Fellow of Aberystwyth University[17] and has an MBA from Harvard Business School.[18]

He lives in Berkshire, UK, with his wife and 4 sons.

References edit

  1. ^ "Navy board | Royal Navy". www.royalnavy.mod.uk. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  2. ^ "Saga Cruises Spirit of Discovery Review. The Best Things About The Ship". Tips For Travellers. 5 July 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  3. ^ "Saga Launches Ground-breaking Fixed-Price Promise Insurance Products for Home and Car Insurance". Saga. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  4. ^ Gangcuangco, Terry. "Saga Plc: "The insurance business has been resilient"". www.insurancebusinessmag.com. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  5. ^ "Saga PLC, SAGA:LSE financials - FT.com". markets.ft.com. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  6. ^ "Saga shares hit record low on profit alert". BBC News. 4 April 2019. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  7. ^ "Domino's Pizza drops on surprise resignation of chief executive". the Guardian. 6 December 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  8. ^ "HONORARY CAPTAIN LANCE BATCHELOR RNR | The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity". www.rnrmc.org.uk. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  9. ^ 20 May 2011 3:15:00 AM (20 May 2011). "Mobile Power 50 | Power 50 Profile: Lance Batchelor, CEO, Tesco Telecoms". Mobiletoday.co.uk. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ "Tesco Mobile chief moves on". The Independent. 22 October 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  11. ^ "Navy board | Royal Navy". www.royalnavy.mod.uk. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  12. ^ "HONORARY CAPTAIN LANCE BATCHELOR RNR | The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity". www.rnrmc.org.uk. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  13. ^ "Trinity House welcomes two new Elder Brethren". Trinity House. 18 October 2022.
  14. ^ "White Ensign Association - Organisation". www.whiteensign.co.uk. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  15. ^ "NEDworks - Supporting aspiring, new and experienced Non-Executive Directors to be more effective". nedworks.net. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  16. ^ "Lance Batchelor, Prof Dexter Dalwood and John Nelson reappointed as Trustees of the National Gallery". GOV.UK. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  17. ^ "Aberystwyth University - Profile". www.aber.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013.
  18. ^ "Story Details - Alumni - Harvard Business School". www.alumni.hbs.edu. June 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2021.