Mary Perkins an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year UK Lifetime Achievement Award for her continued contribution to entrepreneurship and the economy. Perkins is a founding patron of the not-for-profit social enterprise, Modern Muse. Mary Perkins Dame Mary Lesley Perkins, (born 14 February 1944) is co-founder of Specsavers, the British retail opticians chain. Together with her husband, co-founder and chairman Doug Perkins, Dame Mary has three children, all of whom work for Specsavers, and are eventually expected to take over the privately owned company. She attended Fairfield Grammar School in Bristol. She then went to Cardiff University to train as an optometrist. At
138 Mary Street, Brisbane and by the 1880s occupied a large portion of land between Mary and Margaret Streets. The Perkins complex, particularly the six-storeyed brewing tower, dominated this part of the city. The need for increased space prompted the purchase of 138 Mary Street in 1899. By 1902 Perkins & Co had erected a building on the site which they used as a Wine & Spirit store. This building was probably to a design of Richard Gailey as he had worked on other buildings for the Perkins company. In 1928, Perkins merged with another prominent Brisbane brewing firm to form Castlemaine Perkins Ltd