Handover, Richard Gordon (1946– )

English retailing executive. Having started his career at WHSmith Group in 1964, he progressed to managing director of Our Price Music from 1989 to 1995 and then managing director of the WHSmith news distribution business, before becoming the group's chief executive from 1997–2003 and subsequently group chairman until the end of 2004. As at mid 2008 he was a non-executive director of Royal Mail Group and non-executive chair of Alexon Group plc.

Educated at Blundell's School in Devon, Handover held various junior managerial appointments at WHSmith from 1964. In his first senior appointment at Our Price Music, he developed a strategic partnership with Virgin as WHSmith acquired 50% of Virgin Retail in 1992 to operate its chain of megastores and computer games centres; and in 1994 Our Price and Virgin Retail were merged into Virgin Our Price, in which WHSmith by then held a 75% stake. He became a main board director in 1995, responsible for the operation of the news wholesaling division. As chief executive from 1997, he undertook a major restructuring of the business, selling the extraneous retailing arms to focus on the core businesses: Waterstone's book chain was sold for £300 million, and the share in Virgin Our Price was sold to the Virgin Retail Group for £145 million. WHSmith meanwhile acquired the rival newsagent John Menzies Retail chain for £68 million in 1998, and also bought Hodder Headline, a consumer publisher, in 1999 for £192 million, and Helicon, a reference publisher (both since sold). Further acquisitions in 2001–02 included the Blue Star Consumer Retailing Group, a bookseller in Australia and New Zealand, and John Murray (Publishers) Ltd, an educational and consumer publishing house.

Handover has been a non-executive director of Royal Mail Group since 2003 and, until 2007, was chairman of the Adult Learning Inspectorate and Business in the Community's Education Leadership Team and a non-executive director of Nationwide Building Society. He was awarded a CBE in the 2008 New Year honours, and in March 2008 was appointed non-executive chair of Alexon Group plc.