James has run many businesses during his career and currently serves as Chairman of the ITap Group that has several divisions including the much-renowned game shooting website GunsOnPegs. In 2014 he was invited to become Executive Chairman of James Purdey and Sons Ltd, the gunmaker, where he served until the end of 2019. James is a serial entrepreneur having started up many businesses over the last three decades. He is an experienced marketer, having spent time in the oil industry travelling widely, developing various retail concepts.
He then moved onto the food and dairy industry where he developed the extremely successful CCL Foods plc working with brands such as PizzaExpress, Simply Delicious and Peppadew. James is passionate about craftmanship in gun making and was instrumental in the development of the Purdey trigger plate gun.
- Chairman of ITap Group Limited and of GunsOnPegs
- Chairman of the Gunmakers Company Charitable Trust
- Trustee of the Berwick Settlement
- Director of ITap Consultancy Limited
- Freeman of the City of London and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers and a Liveryman of the Clothworkers Company
- Former Chairman and CEO of James Purdey and Sons Limited
THE WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF GUNMAKERS
The Gunmakers Company Charitable Trust is the charitable arm of the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers which was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1637 to promote and regulate gunmaking, a role it still fulfils today.