Roisin
Currie, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Greggs PLC, has been awarded an
honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law by Northumbria University, Newcastle in recognition of her outstanding
contribution to business, her commitment to diversity in the workplace and her
support in creating positive futures for people leaving prison.
Her
appointment to lead Greggs in May 2022 created history for the 85-year-old
company – a leading food-on-the-go retailer and one of the region’s most
successful and high-profile PLCs. Roisin
has been credited as a key driver in the company’s rapid growth in recent years
as it continues with its ambition to have significantly more than 3,000 stores across
the UK.
As
CEO, Roisin
has focused heavily on nurturing the strong culture that is at the heart of
Greggs and she sees this as a key component of the organisation’s ongoing
success. Roisin is also a keen and active supporter of the Greggs Foundation, reflecting her desire
to make a difference to the lives of disadvantaged people across the
communities in which Greggs operates. The Greggs Foundation is a grant-giving organisation
and distributes more than £4.5 million a year to help build stronger, healthier
communities.
Roisin is an advocate for improving social mobility, and was
integral to establishing the Greggs Fresh Start programme. Through Fresh Start,
candidates who might not normally apply through mainstream recruitment
processes are encouraged and enabled to learn about the great opportunities at
Greggs, including returning citizens and long-term unemployed. Greggs has been
able to reach over 3,400 candidates, offer 170 placements and 210 jobs
including 34 management roles through Fresh Start. Roisin is also Chair of the Employers’ Forum for
Reducing Re-offending, a voluntary role working with the Ministry for Justice
and New Futures Network, and a trustee of the Duke of Edinburgh Charity.
Having grown up in Glasgow, Roisin studied Business
studies and Business Law at the University of Strathclyde in the late 1980s.
She was just 15 when she entered the world of retail, working in a shoe shop at
the weekend and then working a couple of evenings a week at ASDA throughout
university and beyond, progressing through the ranks and into senior management,
with roles including Retail People Director and Distribution People Director.
In 2018, Roisin featured in the Northern Power Women List, Europe's largest awarding body
championing gender equality. She was also a panel judge for the 2022 Great
British Businesswoman Awards, which celebrates the women who are changing the face of business
across the United Kingdom.
Roisin
is passionate about encouraging businesses to become aware of the benefits of
working with universities and is already actively engaged with Northumbria’s Newcastle Business School as an Advisory Board
member, providing strategic advice to the senior leadership team. She has also
helped strengthen an established relationship Greggs has with Northumbria by
taking on student placements and employing the University’s graduates. Many of
these recruits have secured permanent employment with Greggs and are
progressing swiftly into increasingly senior positions. Roisin believes the
success that Greggs has had from this partnership with Northumbria, in terms of
people development and leadership succession planning, could be replicated by
other companies.
Commenting
more on this relationship with Northumbria and on receiving her honorary degree,
Roisin said: “It
is a privilege to receive this honorary degree from Northumbria University.
Through my role as an Advisory Board member at the University and welcoming a
number of its graduates to Greggs over the years, I have experienced first-hand
not only its excellence in teaching but also its dedication and contribution to
improving social mobility and levelling up the region – a key passion of mine.
I look forward to continuing to work with the University and its student
population in the years ahead as we continue to build stronger, healthier
communities.”
