BT Group Plc
BT.A:LN
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Overview
Company Profile
In the UK we are a leading communications services provider, selling products and services to consumers, small and medium sized enterprises and the public sector.
We also sell wholesale products and services to communications providers in the UK and around the world.
Globally, we supply managed networked IT services to multinational corporations, domestic businesses and national and local government organisations.
Classification
Financials
News & Media
Corporate
Board of Directors
Sir Michael Rake
Chairman
Sir Michael Rake is Chairman of BT Group plc as well as Deputy Chairman of Barclays PLC, and a director of McGraw Hill Financial. Mike is President of the CBI, Chairman of Majid Al Futtaim Holdings LLC and is a member of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Group. He was chairman of the private equity oversight group the Guidelines Monitoring Committee from 2008 to 2013; Chairman of easyJet plc from 2010-2013; the first Chairman of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills from 2007 to 2010. He was a director of the Financial Reporting Council from 2008 to 2011 and Chairman of Business in the Community from 2004-2007. Mike was a member of the National Security Forum for 2009/2010 and a member of the board of the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum from 1998 to 2007. From May 2002 to September 2007 Sir Michael Rake was International Chairman of KPMG. Prior to his appointment as International Chairman he was Chairman of KPMG in Europe and Senior Partner of KPMG in the UK. He joined KPMG in 1974 and worked in Continental Europe before transferring to the Middle East to run the practice for three years in 1986. He transferred to London in 1989, became a member of the UK Board in 1991, and was elected UK Senior Partner in 1998. Mike is also Vice President and Chairman of Governors of Wellington College, is Chairman of the Henley Festival, a Vice President of the RNIB, a member of the Board of the TransAtlantic Business Council, a Trustee of the Prince of Wales’ Charitable Foundation, a member of the Advisory Council for Business for New Europe, Senior Adviser for Chatham House, member of the International Baccalaureate Advisory Group and on the Global Advisory Board of the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation. Mike is also a William Pitt Fellow at Pembroke College, Cambridge, a City & Guilds Fellow and a Patron of the Science Museum. Mike was knighted in 2007. In 2011 he received the British American Business UK Transatlantic Business Award in recognition of outstanding business leadership. In 2013 Mike received the Channing Award for Corporate Citizenship, was voted the FTSE 100 non-executive director of the year and received the ICAEW outstanding achievement award.
Gavin Patterson
Chief Executive Officer
Gavin joined BT in 2004 as Group Managing Director of BT Retail’s Consumer division. Prior to this, Gavin spent four years at Telewest (now Virgin Media) latterly as Managing Director Consumer and also nine years at Procter and Gamble, rising to become European Marketing Director. Gavin says that one of the reasons for moving to BT in 2004 was because it was an organisation with a rich history and an exciting future – which is even truer today. Gavin was appointed Chief Executive, BT Retail in May 2008 and joined the BT Group plc board in June 2008. Under his leadership BT Retail launched BT Infinity super-fast fibre broadband, drove growth in IT services and built the largest Wi-Fi network in the UK and Ireland. He also led BT’s involvement in the evolution of digital TV services. This includes being a founder partner in YouView and the creation of BT Sport which launched in August 2013. Gavin was appointed Chief Executive Officer, BT Group plc in September 2013. In addition, Gavin is a non-executive Director of British Airways and a Trustee of The British Museum. From 2010-2013 Gavin sat on the advisory board of the Cambridge Judge Business School and from 2011-2014 he was President of the Advertising Association. Gavin graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in chemical engineering, is married with four children and is a passionate Liverpool FC fan!
Tony Chanmugam
Group Finance Director, BT Group
Tony was appointed Group Finance Director of BT Group on 1 December 2008 when he also joined the BT Group Board. In his career at BT, Tony has established a strong reputation for cost transformation, including holding two senior positions in BT Retail, as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and as Managing Director of BT Enterprises (a division within BT Retail). Prior to joining BT Retail, he was CFO and then jointly CFO and COO for BT Global Solutions, a business serving multinational organisation in more than 100 countries. During this six year period the business grew from £500M to circa £3 billion revenue. He qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant. Tony is a Race for Opportunity advisory board member. Outside work he is a sports enthusiast and played cricket at a senior amateur level. He is now resigned to playing golf but still hasn’t achieved his ambition of a single figure golf handicap. He is married and lives in Hertfordshire.
Dan Fitz
Group General Counsel & Company Secretary
Dan is Group General Counsel and Company Secretary, appointed in November 2012. Dan joined BT Group plc in April 2010 as its Group General Counsel. Prior to joining BT, Dan served for six years as Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Company Secretary of Misys plc. Dan spent 12 years at Cable & Wireless plc. He served as Group General Counsel at C&W his last four years there. Before becoming an in-house lawyer, Dan worked at both Baring Brothers, the UK investment bank, and Pillsbury Winthrop, the US law firm. Dan’s main practice areas are corporate law, mergers & acquisitions, software licensing and governance. Dan studied law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (JD Hons. 1985). Dan also has an economics degree from UNC (BA Hons, 1981) and a Diploma in International & Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics (Dipl. Distinction 1982). In 2009 Dan was Chair of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), an in-house lawyers association with over 30,000 members. He is an attorney (New York) and a solicitor (England & Wales).
Tony Ball
Non-executive director
Tony was appointed to the Board on 16 July 2009. He is Chairman of the Remuneration Committee and a member of the Nominating & Governance and Technology Committees. He has held senior executive positions in broadcasting and telecommunications businesses in the UK, US and continental Europe. From 1999 to 2003 he was chief executive of BskyB and then Chairman of Germany’s largest cable operator, Kabel Deutschland Gmbh until 2013. He is a Director of Pure Gym Limited and senior advisor to Providence Equity Partners and Chairman of the Advisory Council of Portland PR.
Iain Conn
Non-executive director
Iain was appointed to the Board on 1 June 2014. He is a member of the Audit & Risk and the Nominating & Governance Committees. Iain became CEO of Centrica plc on 1 January 2015. He was previously Chief Executive, Downstream, of BP’s refining and marketing division, a position he held for seven years. Following his appointment to the BP board in 2004, he served for three years as group executive officer, strategic resources, in which he had responsibility for a number of regions and group functions including Technology, IT, Marketing, Safety, Procurement and Human Resources. Iain had regional responsibility for Europe, including the UK, together with Asia and Southern Africa. Iain served as a non-executive director and senior independent director of Rolls-Royce Holdings plc from January 2005 until May 2014. He is a member of the Presidents Committee, CBI, Chairman of the advisory board of the Imperial College Business School and a member of the Imperial College Council. Iain is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Institution of Chemicals Engineers, and the City and Guilds of London Institute.
Phil Hodkinson
Non-executive director
Phil was appointed to the Board on 1 February 2006. He is chairman of the Equality of Access Board and is a member of the Nominating & Governance Committee, the Committee for Sustainable and Responsible Business, and Chairman of the BT Pensions Committee. He is a trustee of BBC Children in Need, Chair of Action Medical Research and non-executive director of Business in the Community. He chairs the CommunityMark Independent Approvals Panel and is an adviser on finance matters to Christian Aid, having previously been a trustee. Phil was formerly the Senior Independent Director of Resolution Ltd and a board member of HM Revenue & Customs. Prior to his retirement, Phil held a number of executive positions in the UK financial services industry, most notably as the CEO of Zurich Financial Services UK Life, Chair of Insight Investment, Chair of Clerical Medical, and Group Finance Director of HBOS plc. Phil is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries.
Isabel Hudson
Non-executive director
Isabel joined the BT Board on 1 November 2014 and is a member of the BT Pensions Committee and the Nominating and Governance Committee. Isabel joined the NHBC Board on 1 June 2011 as Deputy Chairman, and was appointed Chairman in November 2011. She is currently a Non-Executive Director of Phoenix Group Holdings and Standard Life. Isabel was previously an Executive Director of Prudential’s UK business and Chairman of Prudential International Assurance between 2002 and 2006, and established and served as Chief Executive of specialised pension buyout firm Synesis Life from 2006 to 2008. Isabel also held positions as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director of Eureko from 1999 to 2002, and was the International Development Director for GE Insurance Holdings Limited from 1996 to 1999. Further Non-Executive Director positions held have included, MGM Advantage, The Pension Regulator and QBE Insurance Group. Isabel is also an ambassador for the disability charity, SCOPE.
Karen Richardson
Non-executive director
Karen joined the BT Board as a non-executive director on 1 November 2011. She is a member of the Audit & Risk, Remuneration and Technology Committees. During her 30-year career in the technology and software industry, Karen has held senior operating roles in the public and private technology sector. Karen is a former adviser to Silver Lake Partners and from 1998 to 2005 worked for the NASDAQ-listed software company Epiphany Inc, latterly as chief executive officer. Karen has also served on a number of corporate boards including, VirtuO2, Proofpoint and Hi5 Networks. Karen is an advisory board member of Stanford University Technology Venture Program and Khosla Ventures and a director of Exponent Inc, AYASDI and the San Francisco Opera. Karen is a US citizen, based in San Francisco.
Nick Rose
Non-executive director
Nick was appointed to the Board on 1 January 2011 and became Senior Independent Director on 24 March 2014. He is Chairman of the Audit & Risk Committee and a member of the Remuneration and Nominating & Governance Committees. He is Senior Independent Director of BAE Systems plc and Chair of Williams Grand Prix Holdings plc and Loch Lomond Scotch Whisky. He is also a founding patron of SITraN (The Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience) and is an advisor with CCMP capital. Nick retired as group finance director of Diageo in 2010, having been on the Board since joining in 1999. Prior to Diageo, Nick was a member of the Board of GrandMet and in his early career spent 11 years with Ford Finance in a number of different roles.
Jasmine Whitbread
Non-executive director
Jasmine was appointed to the Board on 19 January 2011. She is a member of the Committee for Sustainable and Responsible Business and the Audit & Risk Committee. Jasmine was appointed Chief Executive of Save the Children International in 2010, having joined Save the Children in 2005. Jasmine held positions with Oxfam until 2005 and prior to this served as a managing director of Thomson Financial based in the US. She is a non-executive director of Standard Chartered plc. A British and Swiss dual national.
Mike Inglis
Non-executive director
Mike joined the BT Board on 1 September 2015 and is a member of the Technology Committee. Mike joined the Iiika Board as a non-executive director and chairman-designate in July 2015. He is also a non-executive director of Pace plc and an independent director at US-based Advanced Micro Devices. Until March 2013, Mike was on the board of ARM Holdings having joined the company in 2002 and held roles including chief commercial officer, EVP and general manager of the processor division. Prior to joining ARM, Mike worked in management consultancy with AT Kearney and held a number of senior operational and marketing positions with Motorola. He is a chartered engineer and a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.