18
|
THE INVESTOR
INTERVIEW
After 25 years at Jaguar Land Rover, Phil Popham decided
it was high time for a new challenge. Here he talks about
becoming CEO of luxury yacht brand Sunseeker
By Jill Insley
chartinga
newcourse
P
hil Popham has spent the bulk
of his working life with one of
the world’s most prestigious
brands and for the past eight
months he’s been facing up to
a new challenge at the helm of Sunseeker, the
luxury yachtmaker.That marked a shift in
transport mode for him; for most of his
career he was climbing through the ranks
of Jaguar Land Rover, from GraduateTrainee
to Group Marketing Director.
Sunseeker is considerably smaller, and
some might see the move as a step sideways.
Popham disagrees:‘I’d got to the stage
where I wanted to have a chance of running
a company.The CEO [of Jaguar Land Rover]
wasn’t looking to retire any time soon, and I
was nearer to 50 than 40. Once you get past
50, you can get stuck in a rut and even start
thinking about retirement. So I decided to
look for a new role with a few prerequisites. It
had to be: the top position in a company that
would provide a challenge; an emphasis on
design, engineering, manufacturing, sales and
marketing disciplines; a premium or luxury
brand; and it had to give me the opportunity
to interface with customers. Because I wasn’t
in any particular hurry to leave Jaguar Land
Rover, I could be a little bit choosy.’
While Sunseeker as a brand may be
less familiar than Jaguar or Land Rover, its
products have rather more celebrity. Its
luxury yachts can be seen in glossy magazines
and action films.They have featured in four
consecutive Bond films, from
The World Is
Not Enough
to
Quantum of Solace
, with three
different models appearing in the latter film
alone. Celebrity owners have included Eddie
Jordan, Michael Douglas, JohnTravolta,
Jenson Button and Simon Cowell.
Popham already knew Sunseeker from his
days as a Regional Manager for Jaguar Land
