Lloyd Dorfman

Sir Lloyd Marshall Dorfman CBE (born 25 August 1952) is a British entrepreneur[1] and philanthropist. Having founded Travelex (today part of Finablr) the world's largest retailer of foreign exchange, Dorfman was appointed CBE in 2008 in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to business and charity.[2]. He was knighted in the 2018 Birthday Honours List.

Sir Lloyd Marshall Dorfman CBE
Born	(1952-08-25) 25 August 1952
Nationality	British
Occupation	Businessman
Known for	Founder of Travelex
Net worth	GB£720 million (Sunday Times Rich List, 2019)
Spouse(s)	Sarah Dorfman

According to The Sunday Times Rich List in 2019, Dorfman is worth £720 million.[3]

Early life and education

Dorfman was educated at St Paul's.[4] He did not attend university.[5]

Career

In 1976, Dorfman started his own currency exchange business from one small shop based in Southampton Row in central London.[6] The company spread to ports overseas, initially in the Netherlands and Belgium.[7] In 1986, Dorfman won Travelex a landmark contract as the first non-bank foreign exchange provider at the newly opened Heathrow Terminal 4. The company expanded into airports worldwide, opening in the USA in 1989 shortly followed by Australia in 1990.[7][8]

The £440m acquisition of Thomas Cook's Global & Financial Services business in March 2001 made Travelex the world's largest non-bank foreign exchange business. Dorfman began to develop the presence of the company in Asia, starting with Japan and spreading to India in 2003 and China in 2004.[9]

Travelex sold its card programme management business to MasterCard for £290 million in 2011, and then its Global Business Payments to Western Union for £606 million. In 2014, an agreement was reached to sell Travelex to shareholders in Abu Dhabi; Dorfman however still retains a 5% shareholding.[10]

Travelex pioneered sponsorship deals including Travelex Cheap Ticket Season at the National Theatre,[11] as well as sponsoring the winning World Cup teams for Australian Cricket in 2003 and England Rugby the same year.

Current business activity

Dorfman is a minority shareholder in The Office Group, the British pioneers of co-working spaces. He was previously chairman and majority shareholder of the company from 2010 to 2017, before a £500 mn deal with Blackstone in June 2017.[12] The Group has over 30 buildings across central London. Its clients include thousands of small businesses and start-ups as well as larger companies. In 2014, he co-founded and became chairman of Doddle,[13] a retail business enabling people to collect, return and send their online shopping from train stations and elsewhere.[14] Dorfman is also a lead investor and board member of the London Theatre Company.[15]

Dorfman has a number of other business interests, including shareholder and director of the London Theatre Company and Ben Ainslie Racing’s America’s Cup Challenge. He sits on Mayor of London Sadiq Khan's Business Advisory Board.[16][17][18]

In April 2020, he added a £3 million investment in Snoop to his portfolio, an app created by former Virgin Money boss Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia.[19]

Philanthropy

Dorfman is chairman of youth and enterprise charity the Prince’s Trust, having joined the charity's Council in 2007. He is also the chairman of Prince’s Trust International, which aims to help unemployed young people around the globe into education, training and work.[20]

In addition, he is a trustee of the Royal Opera House, of the Royal Academy Trust and of JW3; deputy chairman of the Community Security Trust, and was a governor of St Paul's School from 2005 to 2016.[21]

He was on the board of the Royal National Theatre from 2007 to 2015, and the National Theatre's Cottesloe was renamed the Dorfman Theatre in 2013 following a gift of £10 million towards the National Theatre Future redevelopment project.[22] Dorfman joined the board of BAFTA in 2017.[23]

In 2017, following a gift from the Dorfman Foundation, the Royal Academy announced the launch of two new international architecture awards, and the restoration of the Senate Rooms in Burlington Gardens to house a new architecture space and café.[24]

Awards

In 2001 Dorfman was the winner of the Consumer Business Category in the UK "Entrepreneur of the Year" awards sponsored by Ernst & Young, Citibank and The Times. In 2002 he received the British American Chamber of Commerce's UK Entrepreneurial Award, and the Institute of Economic Affairs' Free Enterprise Award. In 2007 he received the Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK award.

In 2008 Dorfman was appointed CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list for services to business and charity. In 2011, he was awarded The Prince of Wales Medal for Arts Philanthropy.[25] He is an honorary fellow of St Peter's College, Oxford and an Honorary Bencher of Lincoln's Inn. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Buckingham University in 2016.[26]

Personal life

He is married with three children, and lives in London.[27]

References

1. List of companies related to Lloyd Dorfman – http://www.cbetta.com/director/lloyd-marshall-dorfman-3
2. "TV entertainers head honours list". BBC News. 13 June 2008. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
3. Times, The Sunday (12 May 2019). "Rich List 2019: profiles 152-200, featuring JK Rowling, Philip Green and Paul McCartney". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
4. "Lloyd Bio Bloomberg". Bloomberg.
5. "Dinner with Lloyd Dorfman – Prelude". Prelude. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
6. "About Us |Travelex UK". www.travelex.co.uk. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
7. "Travelex history". travelex-corporate.com. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
8. Dorfman, Lloyd. "Entrepreneurs are risk-takers – but voting Out is a step too far". cityam.com. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
9. "Travelex history". travelex-corporate.com. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
10. "Travelex sold to owner of UAE Exchange in £1bn deal". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
11. "The man who introduced cheap theatre tickets is a hard act follow". The Independent. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
12. "Blackstone taking control of The Office Group". Sky News. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
13. "Now I've hitched my wagons to the internet shopping express | The Sunday Times". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
14. Dorfman, Lloyd. "Clicks vs bricks is gone: E-commerce firms need both". cityam.com. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
15. "Lloyd Dorfman: A tycoon blurring lines between business and charity". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
16. Dorfman, Lloyd (28 March 2017). "Brexit will be a huge challenge for London – but our best days lie ahead". Retrieved 3 August 2017.
17. "Team Ainslie is picking out the racing line for UK plc". The Telegraph. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
18. "Mayor announces Business Advisory Board | London City Hall". Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
19. Gill, Oliver (11 May 2020). "Currency magnate Sir Lloyd Dorfman opens up on the downfall of Travelex". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
20. "LLOYD DORFMAN | UK Case Studies | Coutts Million Dollar Donor Report". philanthropy.coutts.com. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
21. "Lloyd Dorfman: A tycoon blurring lines between business and charity". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
22. Theatre, National. "News | National Theatre NT Future". Royal National Theatre. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
23. "Board of Trustees". www.bafta.org. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
24. "New architecture space and prizes announced for 2018 | Blog | Royal Academy of Arts". www.royalacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
25. "Prince of Wales Medal for Arts Philanthropy 2011 – News stories". Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
26. "Honorary Graduates 2016 | University of Buckingham". www.buckingham.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
27. "Prince's Trust Council". princes-trust.org.uk. Retrieved 17 March 2016.