OBE Tarsem Dhaliwal

Biography

Tarsem was born in India in 1963 and moved to the UK with his family in 1966. Educated in Warrington, he originally joined Iceland as a trainee accountant in 1985, and was promoted to Trading Finance Director in 1998. He left the business in 2001 and rejoined in 2005, following the takeover and break-up of the Big Food Group, as Group Finance Director and a leading member of the management shareholding team. The Group today is wholly owned by the Walker and Dhaliwal families and has a turnover of over £4.5bn, some 1,000 UK stores, 30,000 employees and a global export business reaching more than 70 countries.

As Group CEO since 2018, Tarsem manages the Group on a day-to-day basis, and sets the strategy to ensure its continued focus on ‘Doing It Right’ for its employees, customers and the environment.

As a trustee of the Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation (IFCF), which has given more than £39m to good causes since 1973, Tarsem has been actively involved in supporting fundraising for its four focused priorities of dementia, environment, wellbeing and children.

Tarsem was appointed OBE for services to the Welsh economy, retailing and charity in the King’s New Year Honours List 2025. He is married to Louise and has four children  and one grandson, all of whom have been instructed to share his passion for supporting Manchester United.