Chris Gent

{{Infobox person

|name=Sir Chris Gent

|birth_name=Christopher Charles Gent

|birth_date={{Birth-date and age|10 May 1948}}

|birth_place=Beckenham, Kent, England

|occupation=Businessman

|nationality=British

|years_active=1971–present

|education=Tenison's School

|spouse=Ex-wife (divorced)
{{marriage|Kate, Lady Gent|July 1999}}

|children=2 daughters (via 1st marriage)
2 sons (via 2nd marriage)

|title=

Director of Vodafone Group plc (1985–96)
CEO of Vodafone Group plc (1997–2003)
Non-executive director of
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (2003–08)
Non-executive chairman of GlaxoSmithKline plc {{nowrap|(2004–2015)}}
Non-executive director of
Ferrari S.p.A.
(2006–present)

|website=[http://www.gsk.com/ Official Site of GlaxoSmithKline]

}}

Sir Christopher Charles Gent HonFREng (born 10 May 1948) is a British businessman, He is the former chief executive officer of Vodafone, a British multinational mobile phone company. Until 2015, he served as the non-exec chairman of GlaxoSmithKline, the world's fourth largest pharmaceutical company. According to the Financial Times on 15 August 2022, he was fined £80,000 by the FCA for insider trading.

Early life

Born in 1948 in Bridgemary Hants, Gent was raised in Gosport, Hampshire.{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2003/dec/15/executivesalaries.city | work=The Guardian | first=Oliver | last=Burkeman | title=The Monday Interview: Christopher Gent | date=15 December 2003}} He attended Tenison's School, then a grammar school in Kennington. His father, who had served in the Royal Navy, died when he was at school. He is one of four brothers (Rod, Chris, Jeremy and Pete).

Career

He first worked for the National Westminster Bank in 1971 as a management trainee, then as a computer services manager at Schroders. In 1979 he became the managing director of Baric, a company owned by ICL and Barclays. In 1985 Gent joined Racal Electronics' Vodafone subsidiary as managing director of British operations as Vodafone prepared to launch its retail mobile phone operations.{{Cite news |first=Marjorie |last=Miller

|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jan-24-fi-1102-story.html |title=A British Gent With More Than a Touch of Vision|date=24 January 1999|newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}

=Vodafone=

Gent was widely credited with transforming Vodafone from a small subsidiary of Racal, a British electronics company, into a global giant, and with engineering Vodafone's 178 billion pound ($212 billion) purchase of Germany's Mannesmann in 2000. He became its managing director in January 1985 and its chief executive officer (taking over from Sir Gerald Whent) in January 1997.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2003/may/27/mobilephones.vodafonegroup1|title=Sir Christopher Gent|newspaper=The Guardian|date=27 May 2003|access-date=3 May 2021}}

In 2001, Gent was an advocate of the United Kingdom joining the euro.{{Cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/news/vote2001/hi/english/newsid_1357000/1357356.stm|title=Bosses prepare for euro battle|date=30 May 2001|publisher=BBC News }}

After retiring from Vodafone in July 2003, Gent was awarded the honorary title of company's president for life on his departure as a mark of his achievement in developing the company, until his resignation from that position in March 2006. The title carried no salary, nor any advisory responsibilities, but was a symbolic link to the business.{{Cite news |url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/business/business:world/vodafones-gent-resigns-as-life-president-248998.html|title=Vodafone's Gent resigns as life president|date=13 March 2006|newspaper=Irish Examiner }}

He was formerly chairman of GlaxoSmithKline, a British multinational pharmaceutical company, joining in June 2004, becoming chairman on 1 January 2005, a position he held until May 2015.

From October 2005 to October 2006 he served on the Tax Reform Commission, established by the then Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne MP.

Gent was a non-executive director of Lehman Brothers and one of four members of the compensation committee of the board that authorised the payout for its CEO, Dick Fuld, who received $34 million compensation in 2007 and $40.5 million in 2006.{{cite news | author=The Lex Column |title=Overpaid CEO award |newspaper =Financial Times| date=22 December 2008| page=12}}

= ConvaTec =

In August 2022, The Financial Conduct Authority fined Sir Christopher Gent £80,000 for unlawfully disclosing inside information, in his former role as non-executive Chairman of ConvaTec Group Plc.{{Cite web |date=2022-08-04 |title=FCA fines Sir Christopher Gent for disclosing inside information |url=https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/fca-fines-sir-christopher-gent-disclosing-inside-information |access-date=2022-12-28 |website=FCA |language=en}}

Personal life

In 2006 Gent was awarded an honorary degree (Doctor of Laws) from the University of Bath. He received a knighthood for his services to the telecoms industry in the 2001 Queen's Birthday Honours. He was also appointed as a HonFREng of the Royal Academy of Engineering{{Cite web|url=http://www.raeng.org.uk/about-us/people-council-committees/the-fellowship/list-of-fellows|title=List of Fellows|publisher=Royal Academy of Engineering|access-date=29 October 2014|archive-date=8 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160608094405/http://www.raeng.org.uk/about-us/people-council-committees/the-fellowship/list-of-fellows|url-status=dead}} in 2004.

In March 2007 Gent called for a referendum on London's hosting of the 2012 Olympics. He was quoted as saying "I cannot see that the long-term economic benefit of hosting the Games outweighs the costs and the horrific burden on the taxpayer, particularly London rate-payers. The cost for them is going to be astronomically high."{{cite web |first=Margareta |last=Pagano |url=http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?menuID%3D1%26subID%3D1205 |title=Do we want to play the Games?|accessdate=7 March 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070309122230/http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?menuID=1&subID=1205 |archivedate=9 March 2007 |publisher=The First Post }}

Gent is an avid sports fan and enjoys golf, skiing and tennis. However, his real passion is cricket, having grown up next door to The Oval and he is well known to travel long distances to attend matches. He famously instigated the deal with Airtouch whilst on his mobile phone at the Sydney Cricket Ground.{{cite news | url=http://www.brunel.ac.uk/about/people/honorary-graduates/honorary-graduates-2000/christopher-gent | title=Christopher Gent, Honorary Graduates 2000 | publisher=Brunel University | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304054420/http://www.brunel.ac.uk/about/people/honorary-graduates/honorary-graduates-2000/christopher-gent | archivedate=4 March 2016 | df=dmy-all }} Vodafone sponsored the England cricket team for many years until 2007. He married Kate in July 1999 in Wokingham and they have two sons. He has two daughters from a former marriage. He lives in Newbury in Berkshire.{{Citation needed|date=October 2017}}

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20080922172058/http://www.gsk.com/about/bio-gent.htm GSK]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20080920145001/http://www.brunel.ac.uk/about/hongrads/2000/gent Honorary degree] from Brunel University in 2000

Category:1948 births

Category:20th-century English businesspeople

Category:21st-century English businesspeople

Category:British chairpersons of corporations

Category:British pharmaceutical industry businesspeople

Category:British technology chief executives

Category:British technology company founders

Category:Businesspeople awarded knighthoods

Category:Businesspeople from Berkshire

Category:Businesspeople from Hampshire

Category:Businesspeople from Kent

Category:English chief executives