Doug Gurr

Douglas John Gurr (born July 1964) is a British businessman, and a global vice-president and head of Amazon UK since 2016. He also serves as chairman of the British Heart Foundation. He formerly taught at Aarhus University and held positions in the United Kingdom civil service, at McKinsey & Co., and at Asda.

Doug Gurr
Born
Douglas John Gurr

July 1964 (age 55)
Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge (BA)
University of Edinburgh (PhD)
OccupationBusinessman
EmployerAmazon
McKinsey & Company
Aarhus University
Asda
Blueheath
TitleHead of Amazon UK
Term2016–present
PredecessorChris North
Children2
Scientific career
ThesisSemantic frameworks for complexity (1990)
Doctoral advisorGordon Plotkin[1]
Websitewww.gov.uk/government/people/doug-gurr--2

Early life and education

Gurr was born in Leeds, England, in July 1964, to parents from New Zealand, and his father was head of the English department at the University of Nairobi.[2] He was educated at the University of Cambridge[3] where he studied the Mathematical Tripos and the University of Edinburgh where he was awarded a PhD in 1990 for research on semantic frameworks using monads supervised by Gordon Plotkin.[1]

Career

Gurr began his career as an academic teaching maths and computing at the Aarhus University in Denmark,[4] before working for the United Kingdom's Civil Service.[5]

Gurr then worked for McKinsey & Co, for six years, where he became a partner.[2][3][5] He then founded Blueheath, an internet-enabled stockless wholesaler, which was later sold to Booker Group.[3][5]

He was then a main board director of Asda.[3] He joined Amazon in 2011, and was China country manager from 2014 to 2016, before becoming UK country manager in 2016, succeeding Chris North who left to become CEO of Shutterfly.[3][6]

Gurr is the chairman of the British Heart Foundation since 2015, and a non-executive director of the UK government's Department for Work and Pensions.[3][6][7]. He is also a trustee[8] of the Landmark Trust.[9]

In July 2018, Gurr received widespread attention for his claim that a no-deal Brexit could lead to civil unrest "within two weeks".[10][11]

Personal life

Gurr is married, with two children, and lives in London and Yorkshire.[7][12] He is a former Scottish international triathlete, and a keen ski mountaineer.[4][13]

References
  1. Gurr, Douglas John (1990). Semantic frameworks for complexity (PhD thesis). University of Edinburgh. hdl:1842/13968. OCLC 475827463. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.651894.
  2. "From the Arctic to the Amazon: a Leeds polyglot expanding Bezos' reach". 17 November 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  3. "Doug Gurr". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  4. "Dr Doug Gurr – Speakers for Schools". www.speakers4schools.org. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  5. "Dr. Doug Gurr". www.landmarktrust.org.uk. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  6. Butler, Sarah (27 April 2016). "Former Asda director takes helm of Amazon's UK operations". the Guardian. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  7. "Board of Trustees British Heart Foundation". Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  8. "Dr. Doug Gurr". www.landmarktrust.org.uk. Retrieved 2019-07-03.
  9. "Landmark Trust", Wikipedia, 2019-05-21, retrieved 2019-07-03
  10. "No-deal Brexit could spark civil unrest 'within two weeks' warns UK head of Amazon". 23 July 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  11. "Amazon reportedly issued a dark warning about Brexit in a private meeting with the UK government". Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  12. "Londoner's Diary: Bog standard delivery haunts Amazon's chief". London Evening Standard. 26 July 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  13. Gurr, Doug; Roberts, Barry (2012). Staying alive off piste. ISBN 978-1468150490. OCLC 875175467.
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