Council Members

Rector, Imperial College London

Sir Richard Sykes became Rector of Imperial College London in January 2001. Before joining Imperial, he was Chairman and Chief Executive of Glaxo Wellcome Plc and Glaxo Group Research Limited.

Sir Richard serves on a number of scientific, higher education and government committees including the UK Stem Cell Foundation and is a board member of the Higher Education Funding Council for England. Sir Richard is a Fellow of the Royal Society and Academy of Medical Sciences, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Royal Society of Chemistry, Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Imperial College School of Medicine and King's College, London.

He received his knighthood in the 1994 New Year Honours list for services to the pharmaceutical industry committees and was awarded honorary citizenship of Singapore in 2004 for his contribution to the development of the country's biomedical science's industry.

Managing Director, Greater London Enterprise

Since early 1998, Anthony has been Managing Director of the London Business Angel Network and in 2002 became Managing Director if its sister company, London Seed Capital. He is Chairman of British Business Angels Association (BBAA) and President of European Business Angels Network (EBAN).

Anthony qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte Haskins & Sells (now PWC) in the late 1970's and soon after as a Chartered Secretary. He then worked on a full time basis as a Finance Director and Chief Executive of a number of privately owned SME companies. Since 1995 he has been a Business Angel Investor/Non Executive Director of six start up and early stage businesses.

Director, London School of Economics and Political Sciences

Sir Howard Davies is the Director of the London School of Economics. From 1997-2003 he was Chairman of the Financial Services Authority, the single regulator for the UK financial sector since 1998. Previous to that, he was Deputy Governor of the Bank of England.

From 1992-1995 he was Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry and from 1987-1992, Controller of the Audit Commission. For six years he worked for McKinsey & Company in London and during 1985-1986 was seconded to the Treasury as Special Adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He is a Trustee of the Tate and in 2004 was elected to an Honorary Fellowship at Merton College. In 2004 he joined the board of Morgan Stanley as a non-executive Director.

Chief Operating Officer, Goldman Sachs

Glenn Earle is Chief Operating Officer of the firm's European businesses and head of Operations, Technology, Finance and Services in Europe. He is a member of the European Management and Firmwide Capital Committees and Co-Chair of the Commitments Committee.

From 1999 to 2004, he was co-head of the European Advisory Group within the Investment Banking Division. Prior to this he led a cross-divisional effort focusing on developing the firm's business in the new markets of Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Previously, he was a member of the Advisory Group in Frankfurt and served for one year on assignment as Chief of Staff to the Chairman of Goldman Sachs International. He spent two years in Mergers & Acquisitions in New York and London and worked in Structured Finance and Corporate Finance New York.

Rector, Royal College of Art

Sir Christopher Frayling is Rector of the Royal College of Art and Chairman of Arts Council England, the largest funding body for the arts in the UK. He is well-known as an historian, critic and an award-winning broadcaster, best known for his work on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 3 and Channel 4.

Sir Christopher is the longest-serving Trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum since 1983. Until recently he was Chairman of the Design Council, a Trustee of the Design Museum, Chairman of the Crafts Study Centre and a member of the Arts and Humanities Research Board. Sir Christopher was knighted for services to art and design education in January 2001.

President and Provost, University College London

Professor Malcolm Grant took up his role of President and Provost of UCL (University College London) in 2001. Professor Grant was Professor of Land Economy and a Fellow of Clare College, University of Cambridge from 1991-2003 and was Head of the Department of Land Economy from 1993-2001.

He was Chairman of the Local Government Commission for England from 1996-2002 and is currently Chair of The Russell Group of UK research universities (2006-). Professor Grant also Chairs the Standards Committee of the Greater London Authority and was Chair of the Association of London Government's Independent Panel on the Remuneration of Councilors in London up until 2005.

Group Vice President for Technology, BP plc

Tony Meggs was appointed Group Vice President, Technology of BP plc in 2001. Prior to this, Tony was a Group Vice President in BP's upstream business with responsibility for activities in Trinidad, Argentina, Bolivia, Algeria, Egypt and Azerbaijan.

Tony's career with BP began in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska where he was Reservoir Engineering Supervisor with Sohio in the mid 1980s, and became Manager of Resource Development in the early 1990s following the acquisition of Sohio by BP. Before joining Sohio, Tony spent a number of years with Exxon, in South Texas and the North Sea.

Head of the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London

Professor Anthony Newman-Taylor is Professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London. His other roles have included Deputy Chief Executive, Director of Research and Consultant Physician at the Royal Brompton Hospital, London.

He is currently Chairman of the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC), a scientific advisory group for the Department for Work and Pensions. Professor Newman-Taylor is a Trustee of the Colt Foundation.

Chair, LDA

Mary Reilly is Chair of the LDA and a senior partner of Deloitte. She works with organisations operating in a wide range of industries including retail businesses, recruitment, media, business services, manufacturing and professional practices.

Mary graduated from University College London (UCL) and did a postgraduate course at London Business School. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and is Chair of the CBI London Regional Council. Mary is also a Board member of London 2012; the Olympic Bid Company.

Director of Economic and Business Policy, Greater London Authority

John Ross has been personal economic adviser to the Mayor of London, Mr Ken Livingstone, for 18 years. He is the Mayor's Director of Economic and Business Policy, which sees him in charge of relations with businesses in London and economic negotiations between the Mayor and national government.

He is responsible for economic relations with international companies and is a specialist in dealing with Chinese and Russian economic affairs.
John was formerly a business consultant advising international mining, financial and commercial companies. He worked in Paris, Frankfurt and for eight years in Moscow during the 1990s.

Senior Vice President, Drug Discovery, GlaxoSmithKline

Previously Head of the Division of Medicine and Professor of Clinical Pharmacology, University College London (UCL), Dr. Vallance managed one of the most research-intensive departments of medicine in the UK. He also maintained a practice in general internal medicine, cardiovascular medicine, and clinical pharmacology. He has served on the R&D Advisory Board at GSK since 2004.

His work has been funded by the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, and the Medical Research Council, and has been recognised by numerous awards, including the Graham Bull Prize in Clinical Science from the Royal College of Physicians, and by election to the Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences. Currently he is Registrar of the Academy, which seeks to inform public policy regarding healthcare and to translate novel science from bench to bedside. Dr. Vallance has chaired grants committees for the Wellcome Trust, and he serves on the editorial boards of Circulation and of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis & Vascular Biology. He has authored more than 200 research papers, review articles, editorials, and textbook chapters.

Group Director, Research and Development, Vodafone Group

Professor Michael Walker is responsible for the international research and development conducted by the Vodafone Group. He is Vice-Chairman and a member of the Executive Committee of the Mobile VCE, a group of companies and UK universities researching future mobile communications.

Professor Walker is a member of the IEE IT Sector Panel, and earlier this year was elected to the ERTICO supervisory board
Until recently he was a member of the academic board of the University of Karlsruhe. Since 1996, Michael has been a professor in the University of London, holding the part-time Vodafone Chair in Telecommunications at Royal Holloway. He is also a visiting Professor at the University of Surrey.