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Sir John Michael Medlicott Vereker, KCB, KStJ, FRSA, CInstM (born 9 August 1944) is an independent member of the board of XL Group plc, and of a number of its subsidiaries and Committees; and an independent director of MWH Global. He formerly had a distinguished public service career, culminating in his appointment as Permanent Secretary for International Development (1994–2002) and as Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Bermuda, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. [1]
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as "Knights of the Bath". George I "erected the Knights of the Bath into a regular Military Order". He did not revive the Order of the Bath, since it had never previously existed as an Order, in the sense of a body of knights who were governed by a set of statutes and whose numbers were replenished when vacancies occurred.
The Order of St John, formally The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of chivalry first constituted in 1888 by royal charter from Queen Victoria.
Fellowship of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) judges to have made outstanding achievements to social progress and development. In the official language of the Fellowship Charter, the award recognizes the contributions of exceptional individuals from across the world who have made significant contributions relating to the Arts, Manufacture and Commerce. Fellowship is only awarded to those who can demonstrate that they have made significant contributions to social change, and support the mission of the RSA. Fellows of the RSA are entitled to use the post-nominal letters FRSA. Fellows of the Royal Society of the Arts are entitled to use of the RSA Library and premises in central London.
Sir John was educated at Marlborough College, from which he won a scholarship to the University of Keele, graduating in 1967, when he joined the newly formed Ministry of Overseas Development. He moved to the World Bank, working under Robert McNamara, from 1969 to 1972. After returning to the Ministry of Overseas Development, he was appointed private secretary to three Labour Cabinet Ministers--Reg Prentice, Frank Judd and Judith Hart. In 1980 he was invited by the then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher to join her staff in 10 Downing Street, where he served for three years as a member of the very small (three person) Policy Unit established by Sir John Hoskyns, working on public sector pay, the labour market and industrial disputes. He helped to establish the feasibility of withstanding a miner’s strike, and when the detailed strategy defined by the Policy Unit was successfully followed, the foundation of the labour market reforms of the 1980s had been laid.
Marlborough College is an independent boarding and day school in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Founded in 1843 for the sons of Church of England clergy, it is now co-educational. For the academic year 2015/16, Marlborough charged £9,610 per term for day pupils, making it the most expensive day school in the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) – the association of British independent schools. Fees for full boarders are up to £12,175 per term, the 28th most expensive HMC boarding school.
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of poorer countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. It comprises two institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), and the International Development Association (IDA). The World Bank is a component of the World Bank Group.
Robert Strange McNamara was an American business executive and the eighth United States Secretary of Defense, serving from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He played a major role in escalating the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War. McNamara was responsible for the institution of systems analysis in public policy, which developed into the discipline known today as policy analysis.
On his return to international development in 1993, Sir John served as Under Secretary for Asia, and then as finance director. From 1988 to 1993, he was deputy secretary of the United Kingdom’s Department of Education and Science, responsible for higher education and science. There his responsibilities included doubling the higher education participation rate from 14% to 28%, transforming the old style polytechnics into Universities, establishing the UK’s first Student Loans Scheme – a rare example of a successful public sector IT project – and restructuring the UK’s Research Councils.
The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) was a United Kingdom government department between 2001 and 2007, responsible for the education system as well as children's services in England.
In his time as permanent secretary, Sir John led the transformation of the Overseas Development Administration from a self-contained enclave of the Foreign Office into the fully fledged and highly respected Department for International Development (DFID). He played a leading role in the establishment of the international development targets, which were subsequently adopted as the Millennium Development Goals; and in coordinating the international humanitarian responses to the conflicts in Rwanda, Kosovo and Afghanistan. Shortly before he left DFID, the prime minister described DFID as the best department in Whitehall; and the OECD called it the best development agency in the world.
The Department for International Development (DFID) is a United Kingdom government department responsible for administering overseas aid. The goal of the department is "to promote sustainable development and eliminate world poverty". DFID is headed by the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for International Development. The position has been held, since 24 July 2019, by Alok Sharma. In a 2010 report by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), DFID was described as "an international development leader in times of global crisis". The UK aid logo is often used to publicly acknowledge DFID's development programmes are funded by UK taxpayers.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 that had been established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. All 191 United Nations member states at that time, and at least 22 international organizations, committed to help achieve the following Millennium Development Goals by 2015:
- To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
- To achieve universal primary education
- To promote gender equality and empower women
- To reduce child mortality
- To improve maternal health
- To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
- To ensure environmental sustainability
- To develop a global partnership for development
In 2002, Sir John was appointed (by the Queen, on the advice of the prime minister) as Governor and Commander in Chief of Bermuda, acting as de facto head of state, and with direct responsibility for ensuring the safety, security and good governance of a Territory which developed, during his term, into one of the best regulated of the small financial centres. His initial three-year term was extended at the request of the British Government to nearly six years. Sir John continued to engage with international development issues while in Bermuda. He and his wife hosted many key international figures – including the Secretary General of the United Nations, the president of the World Bank and two British prime ministers – at Government House. Sir John led the discussion on public finance for infrastructure at the Commonwealth Finance Ministers meeting on 2003; he was an adviser to the UN Millennium Project in 2004; he led the discussion of catastrophe insurance at the World Bank/IMF annual meeting in 2005; and he was a member of Paul Volcker’s panel on the World Bank’s Institutional Integrity in 2007.
The Governor of Bermuda is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Bermuda. The Governor is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the British government. The role of the Governor is to act as the de facto head of state, and he or she is responsible for appointing the Premier and the 11 members of the Senate.
Paul Adolph Volcker Jr. is an American economist. He was Chairman of the Federal Reserve under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan from August 1979 to August 1987. He is widely credited with ending the high levels of inflation seen in the United States during the 1970s and early 1980s. He was the chairman of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board under President Barack Obama from February 2009 until January 2011.
Sir John is a governor of the Ditchley Foundation, which is devoted to the study of international relations. He was chairman of the Student Loans Company from 1989 to 1991. He has been a board member of the British Council, the Institute of Development Studies, the Institute of Manpower Studies, Voluntary Service Overseas, the Centre for Global Ethics and the British Consultancy and Construction Bureau. He has been an adviser to the UN Secretary-General’s Millennium Development Project and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is a vice chairman of Raleigh International and a Companion of the Institute of Management. He was a founder trustee of the International Association for Digital Publications from 2004 to 2008. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Keele. He was awarded a CB in 1992 and a KCB in 1999. He was married in 1971; he and his wife Judy, Lady Vereker, have two children.
The Ditchley Foundation based at Ditchley Park near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, aims to promote international understanding and relations, especially Anglo-American relations, through a programme of around twelve annual conferences on matters of international interest. The foundation was established in 1958 by Sir David Wills, descendant of the tobacco importing family, W. D. & H. O. Wills of Bristol.
The Student Loans Company (SLC) is a non-departmental public body company in the United Kingdom that provides student loans. It is owned by the UK Government's Department for Education (85%), the Scottish Government (5%), the Welsh Government (5%) and the Northern Ireland Executive (5%). The SLC is funded entirely by the UK government and the devolved administrations. It is responsible for both providing loans to students, and collecting loan repayments alongside HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The SLC's head office is in Glasgow, with other offices in Darlington and Llandudno.
The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language; encouraging cultural, scientific, technological and educational co-operation with the United Kingdom.
Sir John was succeeded as governor in December 2007 by Sir Richard Gozney, KCMG .
