Stanley Kalms was educated at Christ's College, Finchley. He joined Dixons in 1948 at the age of 16 and over the years grew the company from a one-store family business into Europe's leading specialist electrical retailer. Kalms was appointed Chairman of the Dixons Group plc in 1971. He was also a Governor of Dixons City Academy in Bradford, West Yorkshire (where the state of the art theatre complex is named in his honour), a Director of Business for Sterling, and a Director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.