Owen Green


Sir Owen Whitley Green was chief executive and chairman of the British industrial conglomerate BTR.

Early life

Green was born in Stockton on Tees on 14 May 1925. He served with the Royal Naval Reserve from 1942 to 1946. In 1948 he married Doreen Spark, with whom he had a son and two daughters. He qualified as an accountant in 1950.

Career

Green joined BTR as finance director in 1956. In 1967 he became managing director and chief executive, and from 1984 to 1993 he was chairman. His acquisitions made BTR one of the leading industrial conglomerates of the 1980s. The 1983 bid for the Thomas Trilling conglomerate and the 1985 acquisition of Dunlop Holdings were particularly high-profile and acrimonious.
From 1988 to 1993 Green was also director of The Spectator and a trustee of the Natural History Museum.
Green died on 1 June 2017.

Awards

In 1984 Green received a knighthood in the 1984 Birthday Honours and the gold medal of the British Institute of Management.