Climate Change Board
A group of 19 business leaders who have committed to tackling climate change
Ben Verwaayen
Chief executive, Alcatel Lucent Ltd (chairman of the climate change board)
Ben Verwaayen graduated from Utrecht University with a degree in law and international relations in 1975. On graduation, he decided to immediately undertake his national service with the Royal Netherlands Army, where he founded the Algemene Vereniging Nederlandse Militairen (General Association of Dutch soldiers), a union that existed until 1996.
On leaving the army, to enable him to continue his work with the trade union, he joined a subsidiary of ITT Corporation.
In 1988 Verwaayen became a director of PTT Telecom, the state-owned Dutch telecoms group that was a forerunner of today's KPN; and then appointed a board member of Lucent Technologies in 1997, moving to the United Sates. He then became CEO of BT. During his time there, he was also a board member for Dutch television production company Endemol.
On September 2, 2008 the Alcatel-Lucent board of directors appointed Verwaayen as the company's chief executive officer.
Iain Conn
Group managing director, BP
Iain Conn is executive director of the BP Group with regional responsibility for Europe, including the UK, together with Russia, the Middle East, the Caspian and Africa.
He was previously chief executive of BP's petrochemicals segment, the third largest petrochemicals business in the world, with over 16,000 employees and large-scale manufacturing plants in the Americas, Europe and Asia.
His career with BP began in commercial refining and oil trading but over the last 12 years he has spent time in various roles in exploration & production, refining & marketing and in group headquarters.
Iain was born in Edinburgh, educated in Musselburgh, Scotland and subsequently studied chemical engineering and management at Imperial College London.
Iain is chairman of the Advisory Board of the Imperial College London Tanaka Business School.
Tom Crotty
Chairman, Ineos ChlorVinyls
Tom has a degree in agriculture from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and joined ICI's agricultural division in 1979 as a technical salesman.
He held further sales and marketing posts within ICI's fertiliser business before joining the company's plastics business in 1988 as marketing manager for MELINAR PET Polymer.
In 1992 Tom transferred to ICI Fluorochemicals as marketing manager for the newly developed KLEA range of ozone benign refrigerants. He became business manager in 1994 and managing director in 1996. When INEOS purchased the business in January 2001 to form INEOS Fluor, he became chief executive officer.
In early 2003, Tom was appointed chief executive officer of INEOS Chlor, in addition to his existing role at INEOS Fluor. In 2004, Tom was appointed chairman of INEOS Fluor. In 2005 - following the acquisition by INEOS of Innovene (BP) - Tom was appointed chief executive officer of INEOS Olefins. Tom remains chairman of both INEOS Fluor and INEOS ChlorVinyls.
Guy Johnson
Director of regulatory affairs, RWE npower
Guy Johnson was appointed as Company Secretary, General Counsel and Director of Regulation on 12 November 2007. He is an experienced company secretary and senior lawyer and has a strong retail background, most recently at Debenhams, where he was Company Secretary.
He began his career at Wyeth Laboratories and subsequently took roles at Mothercare, BHS and Storehouse during a time of business restructuring and merger activity. He is responsible for the Economic Regulation, Government Relations and Legal functions and has been heavily involved in the npower response to recent fuel poverty initiatives, legislative developments and the market investigation.
John Cridland CBE
Director-General, CBI
As Director-General of the CBI, John Cridland is the key spokesman for the business community in the media, on public platforms and with government. He leads the CBI - the voice of business - in the UK and represents it internationally.
John was educated at Boston Grammar School and has an MA in History from Christ's College, Cambridge. He joined the CBI as a policy adviser in 1982 and has been Director of Environmental Affairs and of Human Resources Policy. John was Deputy Director-General from 2000 to 2010.
John is a board member of Business in the Community and a UK Commissioner for Employment and Skills. He is also a member of the Council of Cranfield University. He was Vice Chair of the National Learning and Skills Council between 2007-2010. He spent 10 years on the Low Pay Commission and the ACAS Council, and was also a member of the Commission on Environmental Markets and Economic Performance.
John is married with two teenage children and lives in Bedfordshire. He was awarded a CBE for services to business in 2006 and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Lincoln in 2011.
David North
Community and government director, Tesco plc
David North is community and government director at Tesco, the largest British supermarket chain.
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