Sir Christopher Gent - Non-Executive Chairman
Sir Christopher became Chairman of GlaxoSmithKline plc on 1 January 2005 after joining the Board as Deputy Chairman on 1 June 2004. He is a Non-Executive Director of Ferrari SpAand a Senior Adviser at Bain & Co. He was appointed as a member of the British Airways International Business Advisory Board in June 2012.
Sir Christopher was formerly the Chief Executive Officer of Vodafone Group Plc. Prior to his retirement from Vodafone in July 2003, he had been a member of its board since August 1985 and its Chief Executive Officer since January 1997. He was also Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Mannesmann AG; a Non-Executive Director of China Mobile (Hong Kong) Limited; and on the board of Verizon Wireless. He joined Vodafone as Managing Director of Vodafone Limited in January 1985 when the mobile phone service was first launched, and held that position until December 1996.
Prior to joining Vodafone, Sir Christopher was Director of Network Services at International Computers Limited (ICL). In this role, he was Managing Director of Baric, a computer services company owned jointly by Barclays and ICL, and was responsible for ICL's computer bureau services worldwide. Sir Christopher was also formerly a Non-Executive Director of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
Sir Christopher served as the National Chairman of the Young Conservatives from 1977 to 1979, was a member of KPMG’s Chairman Advisory Group and was Vice President of the Computer Services Association Council at the time he left ICL.
