The keynote speaker at this year’s Bradford Means Business Awards is Peter Marks, who has just retired from the Co-op after more 40 years.

A Bradford man through and through, Mr Marks, of Bingley, who was awarded the CBE in the New Year’s Honours for services to retailing, has enjoyed a career which took him from management trainee to the top job at a national multi-faceted group, whose grocery business became a serious challenger to the ‘big four’ supermarkets, including Morrisons.

During his tenure as group chief executive, the Co-operative Group – whose activities also encompass funeral parlours, travel agencies, pharmacies, motor dealerships and banking – went through significant expansion and change.

Before becoming the Co-op’s group boss, Mr Marks was chief executive of Yorkshire Co-operatives from 2000 to 2002, which incorporated the former Sunwin House flagship store in Bradford, and then chief executive of United Co-operatives from 2002 until 2007, when it merged with the Co-operative Group, where he also landed the top job.

Mr Marks has been familiar with success since joining the Co-op from St Bede’s School, Bradford, in 1967. He was a store manager by 1971 and at the age of 26 became personnel officer responsible for 1,700 staff. In 1981 he was named Bradford Young Business Personality.

He continued to collect awards later in his career, including the highest accolade in the food industry by winning the gold cup for outstanding business achievement, which was voted for by readers of The Grocer trade magazine. He followed that by scooping the Orange Leader of the Year title at the National Business Awards.

These awards recognised Mr Marks’s achievements in expanding the Co-op’s range of businesses. In 2009 he led the £1.6 billion takeover of supermarket Somerfield.

This was closely followed by the deal to swallow up the Britannia Building Society to create a ‘super mutual’ financial services organisation.

Mr Marks then negotiated a joint venture with travel giant Thomas Cook to merge the two companies’ high street travel agencies, which led to him joining the Cook board.

He breathed new life into what was seen by many as an outdated business. Under his leadership, the Co-operative Group became a major player in several operating areas. It repeatedly unveiled record financial results with profits shared directly with its customers.

As the economy slumped into recession, Mr Marks was open and realistic about the difficult state of play – observing that the business was going through its toughest trading period in his 40-year career.