Brian McBride is one of Britain’s foremost digital business leaders. He has been President of the CBI, and is also Chairman, Trainline PLC, NED Standard Life Aberdeen (Abrdn), Senior NED UK Ministry of Defence, Senior Adviser to Scottish Equity Partners, former Chair of ASOS, 2012-2018 and Former CEO of Amazon.co.uk 2006-2011.
Prior to joining Asos and helping them grow exponentially from small startup to leading player, McBride was CEO of amazon.co.uk for five years. During his time at the online retail giant their market grew hugely. They moved from primarily focusing on books and entertainment to providing everything from groceries to sports equipment. He also oversaw innovations like the Amazon Marketplace and Amazon Prime.
Brian McBride has consistently led businesses that have revolutionised how consumers buy and what they expect from retailers. In presentations he looks at how this revolution came about, the rise of mobile and social media in consumer businesses, and how to engage with the new breed of customer. Drawing on experiences from some of the world’s best-known online retailers he considers the common themes across sectors.
By looking at the history of technology and online, from IBM mainframes to smartphones, McBride looks at the lessons from how industries have adapted (or not) to the threats and opportunities. He considers ecommerce growth, Jeff Bezos’ focus, the role of leadership and the vital part mobile and social media play. He also looks at the lessons retail disruption has for other industries.
Before Amazon, McBride’s career included stints at Xerox and IBM, Dell Computers and as UK MD of T-Mobile. He has been a Non Executive Director of Celtic Football Club, at staffing company SThree, and at Computacenter. He’s also served as a Non Executive Director on the Board of the BBC and the Advisory Board of Huawei UK, and as a member of the Government’s Digital Advisory Board, which steered the digital delivery of government and public services.