Ellen Macarthur Foundation. Rethink the future

George is one of B&Q’s Social Responsibility Advisors working with the retailer’s suppliers to help them continuously improve their quality, ethics and safety within their businesses.

He has been with B&Q for five years and, prior to that, worked as an environmental consultant.

George left school with six ‘O’ levels and went on to college to do a BTEC in Business Studies but subsequently decided studying wasn’t for him. He left college to undertake a variety of jobs such as converting VW vans into camper vans, as bank clerk and then shopfitter – in between spending long periods windsurfing in the UK and overseas.

It was nearly a decade later before George returned to study, attending Solent University in Southampton as a mature student. He completed a BSc in Coastal Conservation and Management before going on to read an MSc in Coastal Zone Management at Bournemouth University.

George’s love of the seas has been lifelong and he was proud to have made the British Wave Sailing Championships Express Session Pro Final on the Scottish island of Tiree in 1991. During his career he was also instrumental in setting up the Royal Yachting Association and British Marine Federation’s environmental programme called the Green Blue, which is still going strong today.