Anna Blackburn joined the Lytham St Anne’s-based company retailer, which has 89 stores nationwide, as a graduate trainee in 1998, and after working her way up within the company, accepted the role of Chief Executive Officer in 2013. This appointment was significant on two levels – Anna was the first female CEO and the first non-family member to take up the role. In January 2018, Anna became the first ever non-family member to be promoted to the board of the company as managing director.
As a result of Anna’s focus on making Beaverbrooks a great employer, the business has featured in The Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For list for 21 consecutive years, and has been recognised as the most consistently exceptional three-star accredited retailer in the UK. In 2024 Beaverbrooks was hailed as the UK’s 3rd Best Retail Company to Work For and 14th Best Company to Work For in the UK.
Anna works hard to maintain a strong people-first company culture and is committed to ensuring that all aspects of the business align with the company’s mission statement, ‘The Beaverbrooks Way’ and the company’s purpose of ‘enriching lives,’ which simply means making a positive difference in everything it does. Since the year 2000, Beaverbrooks has donated over £25 million to over 1,000 charities.
She says: “As part of Beaverbrooks’ commitment to enriching lives, which simply means making a positive difference to the world we live in, we’re proud to be a part of The Blackpool Pride of Place Partnership, which is supporting the future needs of our local community. Being both a local business and Fylde resident, supporting The Blackpool Pride of Place Partnership was the perfect partnership.”