After Dinner Speakers: John Banham, Kirsty Lang, Steven Redgrave

Sir John Banham is the Chairman of Tarmac plc, Kingfisher plc and EC1 Ventures Group whose combined market capitalisation is over Ł10 billion, and employs over 100,000 people. He began his career in 1962 after gaining a first class honours degree from Cambridge. From there he spent a year at J. Walter Thompson, learning marketing, then to Reed International, and on to Wall Coverings Division of the group where he became Director of Marketing. Sir John became Chief Executive of the Audit Commission in 1983, and under his leadership identified improvements worth over Ł2 billion a year. He left in 1987 to become Director-General of CBI in 1987. Among his numerous publications are “The future of the British Car Industry” (1975) and “The Anatomy of Change: Blueprint for a new Era” (1994). Sir John is a respected and knowledgeable speaker on the UK economy, skills and education, transport, urban regeneration, manufacturing and local government.