Mary Perkins 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 Cardiff, she met Doug Perkins, whom she would later marry. The couple established their first business in Bristol in the 1960s. This was a chain of opticians around Bristol, which they
Lesley Strathie Committee were issued. On 10 June 2010, Strathie appeared on the BBC One flagship consumer programme "Watchdog" as a result of complaints against HMRC, mainly about the high level of mistakes. Strathie stood down as Chief Executive from HMRC on 9 November 2011 to concentrate on her battle against what proved to be terminal cancer. She died on 14 January 2012, aged 56. On 12 June 2010 she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath (DCB) in the 2010 Birthday Honours. Lesley Strathie Dame Lesley Ann Strathie, DCB (née Cooke; 24 September 1955 – 14 January 2012)