Sir Charles Dunstone

Chairman, Carphone Warehouse

Retail chief Sir Charles Dunstone is the chairman of Carphone Warehouse. Dunstone founded the business in 1989 and has done much to drive the development of the mobile phone industry and the evolution of Carphone Warehouse into a retailer of connected devices and services. He is also the chairman of the telecoms business TalkTalk. Dunstone was one of the earliest entrepreneurs to spot an opportunity in the emerging phone retail market: shops where the public could buy and importantly gain advice on how to work the bricks of the 1990s. Following Carphone Warehouse’s £3.8billion merger with Dixon Retail in August 2014, Sir Charles Dunstone and his CEO, The Hon Sebastian James, now oversee one of the most successful retailers in Europe. While other high street retailers are closing their doors, Carphone Warehouse now has over 1,700 outlets across Europe. As the relevance of the high street declines, Dunstone is likely to be one of the few to retain ranking.