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Businessman from the United Kingdom, born 1942 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sir Thomas John Parker GBE FREng (born 8 April 1942) is a British businessman. He is chairman of Laing O'Rourke and former chairman of Pennon Group, a director of Carnival Corporation & plc and lead non-executive director at the Cabinet Office.[1] He has been a director or chairman of numerous other public companies including Airbus, Anglo American plc, Babcock International, British Gas, DP World, Lattice Group, National Grid plc and Ombu Group. He is a past president of the Royal Academy of Engineering,[2] patron at the Centre for Process Innovation and a Visiting Fellow of the University of Oxford.
John Parker | |
|---|---|
.png) Parker in 2011 | |
| Born | 8 April 1942 County Down, Northern Ireland |
| Nationality | British |
Parker was born into a farming family in County Down, Northern Ireland. He attended Belfast College of Technology (since 1991 called Belfast Metropolitan College). In 1958, at age 17, he joined Harland and Wolff as an apprentice naval architect (engineer). At Queen's University Belfast he was awarded an Honorary DSc degree in Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture.
Between 2016 and 2022, Parker was Chair of the eponymous Parker Review, an independent review which considers how to improve the ethnic and cultural diversity of UK boards to better reflect their employee base and the communities they serve.[12] The first review, published in 2017, set out seven recommendations, including a "One by '21" target. Its aim was that all FTSE 100 boards should have at least one director from an ethnic minority background by December 2021.[13] This was a relative success, with 89 FTSE 100 companies and 128 FTSE 250 companies having ethnic minority representation on their boards as of 31 December 2021.[14]
He was knighted for services to defence and shipbuilding in 2001.[15][16][17] He was the Chancellor of the University of Southampton[16] from 2006 to 2011,[18] as well as being a governor of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.[16] Other appointments have included membership of the Prime Minister's Business Council for Britain[19] and non-executive director at the Bank of England.[20] He was President of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects from 1996 to 1999. In 2012, he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE), for services to Industry and to the voluntary sector.[21][22] He was conferred with Honorary Fellowship of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland (HonFIES) in 2012.[23] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) in 1983.[2] He was elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (HonFIET) in 2014.[24]
Parker married Emma, a former Latin teacher and pianist, in 1967; they have two children.[citation needed] Parker is a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron.
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