Rowan Gormley

Early life

Gormley studied at Selborne College East London and the University of Cape Town. He trained as an accountant with Arthur Andersen in South Africa before moving to the UK in 1987 to work in venture capital for Electra Capital Partners.

Life at Virgin

Gormley was in private equity for 7 years before going to work for Richard Branson in 1994. Branson brought him to Virgin to identify new business opportunities.

When he spotted financial services as a potential area for Virgin to explore, Branson asked Gormley to run it, and Virgin Direct (now Virgin Money) was born in 1995 with Gormley as CEO.

Whilst at Virgin Direct, Gormley was also behind the launch of The One Account, now a part of Royal Bank of Scotland.

Since Virgin Direct, he has launched 3 new start-ups. When he left Virgin Money he set up Orgasmic Wines with the help of his business partner Laura Knight and his brother Clinton Gormley. The firm became Virgin Wines in 2000 when Richard Branson bought into the business.

Gormley left Virgin Wines in June 2008, when he resigned as CEO.

Naked Wines

Gormley set up Naked Wines in December 2008 with 15 of the old Virgin Wines team. On 10 April 2015 Naked wines was acquired by Majestic Wine and Gormley was appointed CEO of the enlarged group.

Websites

Web based at these regional sites:
http://www.nakedwines.com/winelist?cid=UK
http://us.nakedwines.com
http://www.nakedwines.com.au
http://www.nakedwines.com/rowan Naked Page]
http://nakedrowan.wordpress.com/ Blog]