Larry Hirst CBE is the former chairman of IBM Europe, Middle East and Africa. He was appointed to this position in April, 2008 and retired from IBM in July 2010.
He represented IBM to the European Commission and other authorities such as NATO and the EDA on issues of international public policy and business regulation. He also oversaw the company's corporate citizenship, environmental affairs, intellectual property, standards development and university relations activities across the region.
Prior to that role, Hirst led IBM's business in the UK, Ireland, Netherlands and South Africa between 2002 and 2008.
He began his IBM career as a sales trainee in 1977. Leadership roles included Director of Operations in Eastern Europe and Russia (1990-1) and Vice President of the Financial Services Sector in EMEA (1994-2001).
Hirst has a number of roles that support his twin passions of educational improvement and information technology. He is Chairman of the 'Transition to Teaching' Steering Committee, appointed by the UK Secretary of State for education; he is also Chairman of e-skills UK, the Sector Skills Council for IT, Telecoms and Contact Centres. In 2007, he was appointed Commissioner at the UK Government's Commission for Employment and Skills. The following year he was made Chairman of the UK Trade and Investment Executive Board, responsible for driving the UK's trade and investment objectives in the telecoms and IT sectors.
Outside the UK, Hirst is a Foundation Board Member of IMD, the Swiss-based global business school, and is Advisor to the Presidential Advisory Council on Information Society and Development (PIAC) in South Africa.
Born in Batley in 1951, Hirst grew up in Chickenley and went to Wheelwright Grammar School. Married with two children, Hirst graduated in mathematics from Hull University. He started his career as a salesman with Kodak and in 1977 joined IBM in London as a sales trainee.
Hirst's career was celebrated in October 2006 in the Men of Science exhibition, which commemorated the work of Dewsbury men who had made a difference to the world of science and industry.
In December 2009, he was announced as a private sector Business Ambassador by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a role created to promote UK excellence.
Larry was appointed C.B.E. in the 2007 New Year Honours, in recognition of Services to the IT industry.
Larry Hirst was said to be too unwell to attend the 2013 trial of IBM UK Holdings, the company of which he had been general manager and chief executive.
Ahmad Abdullah Juma Bin Byat is an Emirati firmly established in the UAE’s business environment, holding directorial positions in several prominent Dubai organisations.
Scottish Enterprise is a non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government which encourages economic development, enterprise, innovation, international and investment in business. The body covers the eastern and central parts of Scotland whilst similar bodies, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise, operate in north-western and southern Scotland, respectively.
Shriti Vadera, Baroness Vadera, is a Ugandan-born British investment banker, and has been chair of Prudential plc since January 2021, having joined the board in May 2020. Until September 2009, she was a government minister jointly for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Cabinet Office. She was chair of Santander UK from March 2015 to October 2020, the first woman to head a major British bank.
Paul Myners, Baron Myners, was a British businessman and politician. In October 2008 he was elevated to the House of Lords as a life peer and was appointed City Minister in the Labour Government of Gordon Brown, serving until May 2010. As City Minister Myners was responsible for overseeing the financial services sector during the 2007–2008 financial crisis and its aftermath, including leading the controversial 2008 United Kingdom bank rescue package. Myners sat in the House of Lords as a Labour peer until 2014, resigning to become a non-affiliated member before joining the crossbench group in 2015.
Miles Flint is the former President of Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB since June 2004. Before this role, he was the President of European Marketing at Sony Europe. He was responsible for the marketing activities of Sony's electronics business in Europe. Miles was also the Managing Director of Sony United Kingdom Limited. It was the holding company that includes all of Sony’s electronics operations in the British Isles.
Mahmoud Mohieldin, is an economist with more than 30 years of experience in international finance and development. He is the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for Egypt. He is an Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund. He has been the United Nations Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda since February 2020. He was the Minister of Investment of Egypt from 2004-2010, and most recently, served as the World Bank Group Senior Vice President for the 2030 Development Agenda, United Nations Relations and Partnerships. His roles at the World Bank also included Managing Director, responsible for Human Development, Sustainable Development, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, Finance and Private Sector Development, and the World Bank Institute; World Bank President's Special Envoy on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Post-2015 Development Agenda, and Financing for Development; and Corporate Secretary and Executive Secretary to the Development Committee of the World Bank Group's Board of Governors. Dr Mohieldin also served on several Boards of Directors in the Central Bank of Egypt and the corporate sector. He was a member of the Commission on Growth and Development and was selected for the Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum in 2005. His professional experience extends into the academic arena as a Professor of Economics and Finance at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University and as a visiting professor at several renowned Universities in Egypt, Korea, the UAE, the UK and the USA. He is a member of the International Advisory Board of Durham University Business School. He also holds leading positions in national, regional and international research centres and associations. He has authored numerous publications and articles in leading journals in the fields of economics, finance and development.
Evan Mervyn Davies, Baron Davies of Abersoch, is a British former banker and was a Labour government minister until May 2010, as Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Small Business. Davies remains a UK government Trade Envoy for Sri Lanka.
John Pix Weston CBE FREng is a British businessman.
Sir John MacQueen Ward is a Scottish businessman.
Sidney Taurel is a Spanish-born American businessman. He is the chairman of Pearson plc and chairman emeritus of Eli Lilly and Company, where he had a 37-year career and served as chairman and chief executive officer from 1998 to 2008. He became chairman of Pearson in January 2016. He is currently a director of IBM and advises Almirall S.A. on corporate strategy.
Charles Giles Clarke, is a British businessman then cricket administrator, who served as Chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board.
Vladimer "Lado" Gurgenidze is a Georgian career banker, business executive, and the former politician, who was the sixth Prime Minister of Georgia, from 22 November 2007 to 1 November 2008.
Stephen Andrew Carter, Baron Carter of Barnes,, is a Scottish businessman and politician. Starting his career as graduate trainee rising to CEO of J Walter Thompson UK & Ireland and COO of NTL UK & Ireland, in 2003 Carter became the founding CEO of Ofcom in the United Kingdom. He was subsequently the group CEO of Brunswick Group from 2007 until 2008, when he stepped down to join the administration of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Initially serving in 2008 as Brown's chief of strategy, principal advisor, and the Acting Downing Street Chief of Staff, he was very briefly Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting for 9 months in 2008-9. Between 2010 and 2013 he held various management positions at Alcatel-Lucent, and in 2013 he became the group CEO of Informa, an information and events company.
John Ferguson McClelland, CBE, FRSE, FRSA is a Scottish businessman and a former chairman of Rangers F.C.
Alastair Ross Goobey CBE was a leading British investment manager and pension fund manager.
Zeinal Abedin Mohamed Bava, was chief executive officer of Oi until October 7, 2014, when he resigned.
Philip Nevill Green CBE is a British business executive. He was chairman of Carillion from May 2014 until Carillion entered compulsory liquidation in January 2018. Green was chairman of BakerCorp from June 2011 until December 2017.
Sir Richard Leon Paniguian was a British oil industry executive with ties to British intelligence. As described in an obituary for The Telegraph, Paniguian was a long-time troubleshooter and project manager for British Petroleum in some of its most challenging territories.
Rebecca Gay George is 2020 President of the British Computer Society, and active in encouraging girls and women to participate in technology and IT.
Claire Ighodaro CBE is a Nigerian chartered management accountant. She was the first female president of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and previously the financial director of BT Broadband. Ighodaro is presently a non-executive director of Flood Re, XL Catlin Insurance Company UK Limited, and the Pennon Group PLC. She is a trustee of the British Council and an independent board member of the UK Trade & Investment Executive Board. She is a board member and Audit Committee Chair of Lloyd’s of London and a non-executive director and Governance Committee Chair of Merrill Lynch. In 2008, she was awarded with a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to business.