Dr. Pete Cheema, OBE – CEO, Scottish Grocers’ Federation

Born in Wolverhampton and brought up in Kent, Pete originally began a career in the banking industry. He moved to Stirling in 1988, deciding to work for himself as an independent convenience store operator, starting with a run-down corner shop that had been allowed to fall into decay, and transforming it into an award-winning convenience store. He then went on to own several other stores, several of which also went on to be award winning. His passion and excellence for retail operations, a focus on building community centred stores and his personal character and energy saw him elected President of the Scottish Grocers’ Federation (SGF) between 2006 and 2008, having previously served on the Board since 2000. Pete was the first non-white retailer to become President.

Pete was then appointed as Chief Executive of SGF in 2015, and since then has revolutionised it into a modern, relevant and highly influential trade body which has the ear of Scottish Government on retail matters as well as having influence at UK Government level (working with ACS). The organisation has also become a beacon for diversity across gender and ethnicity. Pete is currently a Board member of the Scottish Retail Consortium and Scotland’s Town Partnership, as well as being a former lay adviser to Police Scotland from 2000 to 2018. He also sits on several Scottish Government committees and Glasgow’s Licensing Forum. Pete was awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2018 for services to Business, Community Cohesion and Charity, and was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Stirling University for his services to the retail sector in 2019.