McLaren Group
Board of Directors
From left: Sultan Ojjeh (NED), Will Griffiths (BMHC), Omar Syed (BMHC), Aysha Abdulmalek (BMHC), Torsten Müller-Ötvös (NED), Zak Brown (CEO - Racing), Paul Walsh (Executive Chairman), Michael Leiters (CEO - Automotive), Shaikh Mohamed bin Isa Al Khalifa (BMHC), Dennis Nobelius (NED), Pierre-Yves Roussel (NED), Hisham Al Saie (BMHC), Tim Murnane (Secretary) and Dr Samer Aljishi (BMHC).
BMHC – Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company B.S.C.(c) - (Shareholder Director)
NED – Non-Executive Director
Executive Biographies
Paul Walsh
Paul Walsh has held the position of Executive Chairman, of luxury automotive, motorsport and technology company McLaren Group since 2020.
Paul brings a wealth of business experience to McLaren having spent over three decades with FTSE 100 listed global premium drinks company, Diageo plc, 13 of those years Paul spent as Chief Executive Officer.
From 2014 to 2020 Paul was Chairman of Compass Group plc, the world’s leading contract catering company and a major support services provider operating in around 50 countries while employing over 500,000 people.
Paul was Chief Executive of Diageo plc from 2000 to 2013. Paul joined GrandMet’s brewing division in 1982 and became Finance Director in 1986. He held commercial positions with Inter-Continental Hotels and in the GrandMet food business, becoming CEO of The Pillsbury Company in 1992.
Paul was appointed to the GrandMet Board in October 1995 and to the Diageo Board in December 1997.
Paul is also a non-executive director of FedEx Corporation and McDonald’s Corporation. In September 2024, Paul was awarded the honorary position of Visiting Fellow from the University of Oxford.
Zak Brown
As Chief Executive Officer of McLaren Racing, Zak Brown has overall responsibility for the business, including strategic direction, operational performance, marketing and commercial development. Since joining the team in 2017, he has led the transformation of the brand and culture of the McLaren Formula 1 team and put in place the people, resources, infrastructure and mindset that has enabled McLaren to return to racing at the front of the F1 grid. Zak has taken McLaren Racing onto a global motorsport stage, with McLaren teams now racing in IndyCar, Formula E, Extreme E and eSports, with the World Endurance Championship joining the line up in 2024.
Born and raised in California, Zak raced professionally around the world for 10 years before developing his skills in motorsport’s business and commercial worlds. In 1995, he founded JMI, which grew to become the largest and most successful motorsport marketing agency in the world. JMI was acquired in 2013 by CSM, a division of Chime Communications.
Zak is a racer and renowned for his energy, his relentless work ethic and his knowledge of the business and history of motorsport. He’s been unafraid to publicly address some of the issues facing the world of motorsport and has been the lead protagonist around the budget cap, sustainability and diversity in the sport, as well as champion of fans interests. He has demonstrated the ability to take the tough decisions needed to make an F1 team successful.
Zak co-founded and co-owns United Autosports, a leading racing team competing in international sportscar racing, the Supercars Championship in Australia, and various historic racing events around the world. Outside of work, Zak is an avid collector of historical documents, baseball and ice hockey memorabilia, and both road and racing cars.
He is married with two sons and several dogs, lives in Surrey in the UK and can be found on the golf course on his rare days off.
Michael Leiters
Michael joined McLaren Automotive Limited, based at the iconic McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, in July 2022 as Chief Executive Officer. Under his overall responsibility, Michael is pushing McLaren Automotive’s boundaries of performance to become the most appealing supercar brand in the world, driving the business forward on world-class technology, quality, and profitability.
German-born, Michael holds a Doctorate and a Diploma in mechanical engineering, both from RWTH Aachen University, graduating in 2000. He started working for Fraunhofer in parallel to his doctorate on Quality management.
Michael brings a pedigree of more than 20 years’ experience in the automotive industry working for some of the most renowned performance car brands. He has held several senior management positions in which he developed and launched some of the world’s most awarded sports and supercars.
Michael has held senior positions at Porsche AG finally to become a Product Line Director for their SUV’s overseeing development and production.
More recently, Michael was the Chief Technology Officer and member of the Senior Management Team at Ferrari Spa which he joined in 2014. During his 9 year tenure, Michael was responsible for the overall development of new products including R&D, Purchasing and Corporate Quality.
Michael is fluent in German, English and Italian.
Tim Murnane
Tim Murnane graduated with honours in law from the University of Southampton in 1982 and then completed his Solicitors’ Final Examination, again with honours, in 1983. Tim qualified as a solicitor in 1985 and in 2000 he completed a post graduate qualification from King’s College, London.
Tim went into private legal practice until 1987 but turned down an offer of private practice partnership to move into the commercial arena becoming in 1987 Company Solicitor for Hoover plc. He was later appointed as Company Secretary and also undertook that role for its very large final salary pension scheme.
In 1991, Tim joined TAG McLaren as Company Lawyer and founded the Group’s first in-house legal resource. In 2004, Tim was also appointed Company Secretary for McLaren Group Limited and when all of the McLaren companies were reunified in 2017, he became Group Legal Director and Company Secretary for McLaren Group.
Tim has been heavily involved in many of the transactions and events that have been milestones in the history of the Group.
Stuart Alfredson
Stuart joined McLaren Group in 2021 and was appointed Group Finance Director in 2023, taking responsibility for corporate finance functions across the Group.
From 2017 to 2020 Stuart was Group Financial Controller at TalkTalk Telecom Group plc, a FTSE 250 telecoms provider and prior to this held senior finance roles at Carphone Warehouse Group plc / Dixons Carphone plc, a FTSE 100/250 retailer of technology products and services. During his time at these organisations he played a leading role in a number of M&A transactions and transformation initiatives. Stuart began his career at PwC Australia in the consumer and industrial products audit division.
Stuart holds Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Arts degrees from Melbourne University, Australia and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2004 with Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.