Profile: Lord Mervyn Davies
LORD Mervyn Davies had a short tenure as a minister of state, but since Gordon Brown was voted out of Downing Street, he has had plenty to do. Baron Davies of Abersoch, to give the former chief executive of Standard Chartered his full title, is also a senior non-executive director at international drinks giant Diageo, a partner at private-equity firm Corsair Capital and a non-executive chairman at US asset management firm Pinebridge Investments.
As minister of state under Lord Mandelson, Lord Davies oversaw a government review into the number of women on company boards in February 2011, which recommended that a quota system was not an effective way to encourage equality, but instead that FTSE 350 companies should set their own targets to fulfil.
Before taking his life peerage in 2009, Lord Davies had a decorated career in financial services, which saw him awarded a CBE in 2002. Having joined Citibank in 1983, he worked for the bank for 10 years until landing a position at Standard Chartered. In 1997 he joined StanChart’s board and was made chief executive in 2001, a position he retained for five years before stepping down to be replaced by current boss Peter Sands, and becoming chairman.
Outside of the business world, the 60-year-old Welshman is a passionate supporter of the Arts, having served on boards for the Roundhouse theatre and the Royal Academy of Arts and a football fan, and he was on the board of Tottenham Hotspur until taking his position in Gordon Brown’s government.