The Lord Simon of Highbury | |
---|---|
Born | David Alec Gwyn Simon 24 July 1939 |
Education | Christ's Hospital University of Cambridge |
Spouses | Hanne Mohn (m. 1964;div. 1987)Sarah Roderick Smith (m. 1992) |
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
In office 12 June 1991 –9 June 2017 Life Peerage | |
10th Chairman of British Petroleum | |
In office 1995–1997 | |
Preceded by | John Baring |
Succeeded by | Peter Sutherland |
David Alec Gwyn Simon,Baron Simon of Highbury (born 24 July 1939) is a British businessman.
Simon was educated at Christ's Hospital in Horsham,West Sussex. [1] He studied at Gonville and Caius College,Cambridge,graduating in 1961,and joined British Petroleum as a management trainee,becoming chief executive of BP Oil International in 1982,managing director of BP in 1985,chief executive from 1992 to 1995 and chairman from 1995 to 1997. [2]
In the early years of his career he spent some time at the elite business school INSEAD. He became Advisor to Unilever and was Chairman of the Belgo-British Conference in 2004.
When Labour won the 1997 elections,he was appointed Minister for Trade and Competitiveness in Europe. Simon had been an industrialist for many years.
Simon was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1991 New Year Honours [3] and knighted in 1995. [4] He was created a life peer as Baron Simon of Highbury,of Canonbury in the London Borough of Islington on 16 May 1997. [5]
He was conferred as an Honorary Senior Fellow of Regent's University London on 26 June 2014. [6]
He retired from the House of Lords on 9 June 2017. [7]