FEATURE | The Big Interview
N
ovelist EM Forster may
have come up with
the line first but Alex
Williamson could fairly
lay claim to having the
finest view from his room of any chief
executive in the land. As CEO of the
12,000-acre Goodwood Estate in West
Sussex, he only has to look up from his
desk to admire the magnificent 18th
century cedar trees outside his window
and the organic farm stretching into the
distance.
“I’m certainly lucky to be able to work
in such a beautiful place,” he tells me
when we meet. “There’s nowhere like
it. There are very few people who can
look their friends in the eye and say they
work somewhere unique in the world but
people who work here can and I’m lucky
enough to be across all of it. What an
amazing place. Every time you come up
the drive you fall in love with it.”
From his office in Goodwood House,
the history of which goes back to 1600
or thereabouts, Williamson runs this
diverse £100m business – from its flagship
events in motorsport and horse racing to
activities like golf and flying, plus the farm
– with Lord March, the charismatic owner
of the estate.
Williamson sums up how he sees the
main business of the estate. “People say
we own a number of weekends of the
British summer season. First, the Festival
of Speed at the end of June. That rolls
into horse racing’s Qatar Goodwood
Festival – popularly known as Glorious R
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DIRECTOR OF FINANCE
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