chief executive, Greene King (18)
Like his namesake who bags goals for ManU and England, Rooney Anand's stock has significantly risen this past year. The boy wonder shoots into the top 10 courtesy of his impressive display as managing director of Greene King's brewing division and his recent transfer to chief executive of the whole group. In his time as head of brewing the Greene King brands such as IPA, Abbot Ale and Ruddles he increased the proportion of ales sold outside the company's own pub estate to 78% compared to 65% five years ago.
At Bury St Edmunds, he got the brewery running at 95% capacity with the potential to increase by a further 50% by adding a third shift. Always one for innovation, Anand assembled a tasting panel brought from all sections of the company, not just the brewery, to advise on taste and quality.
He took over the top job from Tim Bridge and finds the group in rude health. Greene King has become the UK's fourth-largest owner of pubs with an estate of 2,100 pubs after the purchase of Laurel Pub Company's 432-strong neighbourhood chain for £654m. The integration of this estate will be key for the company over the coming year. There continues to be speculation that a bid for Scottish-based brewer and pub operator Belhaven may be on the cards after the impact of the Scottish smoking ban is analysed (or sooner).
At the last results, Greene King's 770 managed pubs, its most profitable division, saw trading profit rise 4% to £56.9m, with average sales up by 7%, while the tenanted division saw a 9% increase in trading profit to £47.8m. Deutsche Bank analyst Geof Collyer reckons earnings have risen here by more than 165% in the past five years.
Many believe that Anand's arrival at Greene King four years ago from international consumer goods company the Sara Lee Corporation coincided with the company's sharper strategic and operational focus.