Past Speakers
Martin Broughton, President, CBI & Chairman, British Airways
Martin Broughton became CBI President in January 2007. He is currently a member of the President’s Committee and served as Chairman of the Companies Committee from 1995-1999. He became chairman of British Airways in July 2004, having joined the board of British Airways in 2000 as a non-executive director and been appointed deputy chairman in October 2003.
He was formerly chairman of British American Tobacco plc (BAT), a role he took on in 1998, having previously been group chief executive and deputy chairman since 1993.
Martin is the European chair of the Transatlantic Business Dialogue. He is a member of the European Round Table of Industrialists and serves on the International Advisory Board of the British American Business Council.
George Buckley, Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer, 3M
George W. Buckley became 3M Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer in December 2005. Before this appointment he had been Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Brunswick Corporation since June 2000.
Before joining Brunswick in 1997, he was with Emerson Electric Co. serving as President of the US Electric Motors Division, and the Automotive and Precision Motors Division. He was previously Managing Director of the Central Services Division of the British Railways Board.
In addition to 3M, George serves on the boards of Black & Decker and Archer-Daniels-Midland Company. He studied at the Universities of Southampton and Huddersfield from which he was awarded a PhD in Engineering. George also holds an honorary DSc in Engineering from the University of Huddersfield.
Rt Hon David Cameron MP, Leader, Conservative Party
David Cameron was elected to Parliament in 2001, representing Witney. He has previously held the positions of Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons (2003), Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party (2003), front bench spokesman on Local Government Finance (2004) and Head of Policy Co-ordination up until May 2005. After the 2005 General Election, David held the position of Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Skills. In December 2005 he was elected leader of the Conservative Party.
David spent almost seven years at Carlton Communications plc, where he was Director of Corporate Affairs. Before joining Carlton, he worked as a special Advisor at both the Home Office and the Treasury.
Charlie Mayfield, Chairman, John Lewis Partnership
Charlie Mayfield became the fifth Chairman of JLP in March 2007. He joined the Partnership in 2000 as Head of Business Development, responsible for business strategy and development for both John Lewis and Waitrose.
He joined the Board as Development Director in 2001 and was responsible for developing the Partnership's online strategy including the purchase of Buy.com UK (now johnlewis.com) and negotiating the Partnership's stake in Last Mile Solutions (now called Ocado).
He became Managing Director of John Lewis in 2005. Charlie became Deputy Chairman in February 2007 before taking up his appointment as Chairman. Charlie began his career as an officer in the Scots Guards. He joined SmithKline Beecham in 1992 and became Marketing Manager for the Lucozade brand, before moving to McKinsey & Co in 1996, where he worked with consumer and retail organisations.
John McDonough, Chief Executive, Carillion plc
John McDonough was appointed Group Chief Executive of Carillion plc in January 2001 having formerly been Vice President, Integrated Facilities Management, Europe, the Middle East and Africa of Johnson Controls Inc. He is Chairman of the CBI’s Public Services Forum, Vice-Chairman of the CBI’s Public Services’ Strategy Board and a member of the CBI’s President’s Committee. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Tomkins plc.
Stefano Pessina, Executive Chairman, Alliance Boots
Stefano Pessina was appointed Executive Chairman of Alliance Boots in July 2007 having previously been its Executive Deputy Chairman. Before the merger of Alliance UniChem and Boots Group he was Executive Deputy Chairman of Alliance UniChem, before that having been its Chief Executive for three years up until December 2004.
Stefano was appointed to the Alliance UniChem board in 1997 when UniChem merged with Alliance Santé, the Franco-Italian pharmaceutical wholesale group which he established in Italy in 1977. He is an engineer by profession.
Sir John Rose, Chief Executive, Rolls-Royce plc
Sir John Rose joined Rolls-Royce plc in 1984 and held a number of leadership roles. He served as Director of Corporate Development from 1989 to 1994, and in February 1993 assumed the role of President and Chief Executive of Rolls-Royce Inc, responsible for Rolls-Royce activities in North America. In January 1995 he became Managing Director of the Aerospace Group until he finally became Chief Executive of the company on 1 May 1996.
Rose received a knighthood in the 2003 New Year's Honours List. Before joining Rolls-Royce, he had a career in banking with the First National Bank of Chicago and Security Pacific.
Jeroen van der Veer, Chief Executive, Shell
Jeroen van der Veer joined Shell in 1971 and worked in manufacturing and marketing in the Netherlands, Curaçao and the United Kingdom. In 1984, he returned to Shell Nederland as manager of Corporate Planning, and after an assignment coordinating Shell businesses in Africa and Canada, he became a Managing Director in 1992. In this post, he led major reorganisations as well as a billion upgrade of Pernis refinery. In 1995, he moved to the United States as President and Chief Executive of the Shell Chemical Company.
He was appointed a Group Managing Director in 1997. Chemicals remain one of his areas of responsibility and he oversaw the worldwide restructuring of the business.
Paul Walsh, Group Chief Executive, Diageo
Paul Walsh was appointed CEO of Diageo plc in September 2000, having been appointed a Director in December 1997 and Chief Operating Officer in January 2000. Previously, he was Chief Executive Officer of Pillsbury from 1992 and he joined the Board of GrandMet in 1995.
He originally joined GrandMet’s brewing division Watney, Mann and Truman Brewers in 1982 as a Financial Planning and Accounts Manager. Paul was educated at Manchester Polytechnic (now Manchester Polytechnic University).
