made a managing director, and by 1978 he had worked in every area of the business; including food, and property, as well as clothing. In 1984, shortly after becoming chairman, Derek Rayner decided it was time to outline his immediate successor, and, in 1988, Greenbury took his place as chief executive. In 1991, he was promoted again, becoming executive chairman, in keeping with Marks and Spencer's business traditions. Despite later criticism, when the company smashed the £1 billion profit barrier in 1997, the City sang Greenbury's praises; although the impact of his tenure became the subject of intrigue in the aftermath of the downturn. For every year that Greenbury was in charge, Marks and Spencer held more than twice the clothing market of any other high street name, and even after the crash, and Greenbury's departure, they remained the only retailer holding over 10% of the market. In 1997, Greenbury received an honorary doctorate from Heriot-Watt University. The Greenbury Committee In 1995, Greenbury led a CBI committee which made recommendations on executive remuneration. The Greenbury Report, as it was widely known, has had longstanding implications for the method and scale of remuneration policy in UK PLCs. The committee included other notable senior industrialists of the time, such as Sir Deny Henderson, Sir Iain Vallance and Sir Michael Angus. New leadership In 1999, Greenbury's career as a CEO and chairman came to an end. He bore criticism as he stood down. One journalist would later impart; "Life has been unfair to Sir Richard, he had forty years of unmitigated success followed by one poor one; and that's the one he'll be remembered for." Despite this, Greenbury talked openly about the problems with the leadership succession that ultimately caused a slump at the retailer, as the four possible candidates for the job engaged in a bitter power struggled that stimulated headlines such as "Sparks Fly at Marks", in a Channel 4 documentary. The downturn in Marks and Spencer's fortunes has also been attributed to, in part, the costly Littlewoods acquisition, which reportedly cost several million pounds. After stepping down, Greenbury went on to serve as a director with ICI, Zeneca, C&G, Game, British Gas, Lloyds TSB, and as a member of the supervisory board at Philips. He retired in 2010. Though his tenure has been remembered for the downturn in profits and share prices that followed his departure, it was under Greenbury