Sir Charlie Mayfield Awarded Philip Baxendale Fellowship Award

Sir Charlie Mayfield, Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership & President of the EOA has been awarded the Philip Baxendale Fellowship Award.

The Award, which is for an individual who has in the past made, or is currently making, an outstanding contribution to the growth of employee ownership in the UK, has been awarded to Sir Charlie in recognition of both his corporate and personal advocacy for employee ownership both inside and outside of the John Lewis Partnership.

As Chairman of John Lewis Partnership plc, an office he has held since 2007 and from which he steps down in 2020, Charlie’s genuine interest in employee ownership is evident in many ways. Throughout his time as Chairman of JLP, Charlie has been a passionate advocate in Westminster and Whitehall (both personally and through the JLP team) for employee ownership as a social and economic enabler.

He has been a proactive, visible and very supportive President for the EOA, offering both his personal and corporate support to the cause and purpose of the EOA through introductions, connections, support for projects and by hosting or advocating key events. Plus, he has offered his personal support to each incumbent CEO and to the Board of the EOA to help guide strategy and direction.

Outside of the partnership and the EOA he has been a trustee of Central Surrey Health, took part as a Panel Member in the Ham Review of Staff Engagement in the NHS (2013-2014) and is also has roles as Chair of Be the Business (a business led movement to improve UK productivity and competitiveness). He is also  has other roles as a Trustee of Place2Be, a Trustee of the British Museum and the Non-Executive Chairman of QA. Previously Charlie was the Government-appointed Chair of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and Chair of the British Retail Consortium. He was knighted in 2013 for services to business.

One of the key impacts as Chairman of the EOA was his direct contribution in securing the Panel members for the Ownership Effect Inquiry in 2017 and his continued involvement in the launch of the Ownership Dividend report – his advocacy of the project and personal commitment to the Steering Group was a driving reason why so many organisations committed their involvement and why so many senior representatives were personally involved.

He has hosted a dinner for previous winners of the Philip Baxendale Award at the family home of John Spedan Lewis in 2016 to enable a discussion about the opportunities for EO, has hosted the EOA Trustee Member annual dinner (since 2017) and took a leading role in the planning and delivery of the 2014 ‘Inspiring EO’ Event, capitalising on JLP supply chain to raise awareness of EO.

On why he is passionate about employee ownership Sir Charlie said: “Work is where we spend the most active years of our life.  It’s where we learn about ourselves, including what we’re good at and what we’re not. It’s often the place where we become the people we are.  Our model of ownership places this human dimension at the heart of our business and makes that the distinctive basis on which we compete to succeed as a business. We’re proud of the difference we make for our customers, our suppliers and our communities, because for us, it’s personal.”

Previous winners of the awards include Hugh Facey OBE, Jo Pritchard, David Erdal and Patrick Burns.