Sir Geoffrey was born in Sunderland. He began his career at Esso before moving to both British Sugar and Norton Abrasives as Finance Director following the award of an MBA from Harvard in the 1970s. In 1983, Sir Geoffrey was appointed Group Managing Director of the Kingfisher Group, where he successfully added Comet, Superdrug and B&Q to the Woolworth chain's portfolio. During the period 1982-2002 the group became one of the largest and most profitable UK and European retailers operating in 15 countries around the world. Sir Geoffrey retired at the end of April 2003.