Committee Members- Biographies

Michael J. S. Gibbons OBE (Chairman)

Michael gained an MA from Downing College, Cambridge University and started his career at ICI in 1970 where following a series of management positions in the UK, USA and Belgium; he became responsible for all energy purchased by ICI in the UK. He led much of the ICI work which led to the development of Teesside Power, and served on the Board of Teesside Power Ltd.

He joined Powergen in 1991, and performed a wide range of roles at Director level, including the purchasing of all fuels for the UK power stations (he conducted major negotiations with British Coal and British Rail), and having the responsibility as Managing Director for Powergen’s gas business, including the development of gas trading ; he directed the renegotiation of a range of major contracts, and finally he was appointed Director of UK Communications, responsible for government and external relations, the press office and internal communications .

He has held a very wide range of commercial and public appointments spanning his business career. These include: Chair of the CBI electricity privatisation working party; Member of the Gas Consumers Council; Expert Adviser to the European Commission on energy pricing; Member of the ECSC Joint Consultative Committee and Regional Councillor of the CBI.

Since leaving Powergen in 2002, he has worked toward better regulation for the UK government as a Member of the Better Regulation Commission and its predecessor body from 2002 – 2008. In 2007 he completed a Review (the Gibbons Review) of Employment Dispute Resolution Regulations for the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, and chaired a Practitioner Panel on the simplification of employment law for the DTI. In February 2008 he was appointed by the European Commission to the High Level Advisory Group on Administrative Burdens. He was appointed a Member of the EU Strategic Business Advisory Group to BERR in 2008. He is also a member of the BIS Ministerial Challenge Panel.

He has lectured widely on energy issues, worked on developing the Hatfield Power IGCC/CCS project with Powerfuel Power Ltd of which he is now a Director. He is the Deputy Chairman of the British Energy Association, and operates a small energy consultancy. He is also Chairman of the Hertfordshire Family Mediation Service Limited, a Non Executive Director of the East and North Herts NHS Trust, a Director of the Carbon Capture and Storage Association, and a Director of the British Management Data Foundation.

Michael was awarded an OBE for services to regulatory reform in the New Year Honours List 2008.

David Parker

David is an Emeritus Professor of Cranfield University having been Dean of the Faculty of Management from November 2007 to September 2009. He was also Co-Director of the Centre for Research in Economics and Finance and a member of the UK Competition Commission between 1999 and 2007. He has advised government and business on privatisation, regulation and competition issues in many parts of the world.

He was senior lecturer in economics at Cranfield School of Management between 1989 and1992. David has published in leading international journals over a number of years. He is Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and of the British Academy of Management. David was appointed the UK Government’s Official Historian of Privatisation in September 2004. Volume One of the Official History was published in February 2009.

Ian Peters

Ian has occupied his current position as Chief Executive of the Institute of Internal Auditors since June 2009. He was previously Director of External Affairs at the Engineering Employers Federation (EEF) from 2001 and before that Deputy Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce with specific responsibility for policy, lobbying and communications. Prior to that he spent five years as a Deputy Director at the CBI where he was head of the Small and Medium Enterprise Unit. He has also worked in public relations for the international PR agency Burson-Marsteller.

Ian was previously a member of the Chancellor’s EMU business advisory group and chaired the Treasury EMU Working Group on the information and education needs of business. He was also a member of the Government’s Better Regulation Task Force.

Sarah Veale CBE

Sarah Veale is Head of the Equality and Employment Rights Department at the TUC, where she has worked since 1985.

Before becoming Head of Equality and Employment Rights, Sarah was Senior Employment Rights Officer, in which role she was responsible for the development of TUC policy on employment law. She co-ordinated TUC activities in relation to the introduction of the Employment Relations Act 1999 and wrote the TUC Guide to the Act. She was also responsible for various TUC submissions to the Government, and was a member of the TUC team which negotiated the agreement with the CBI and the Government that formed the basis of the Temporary Agency Work Directive. She regularly briefs senior union officers on developments in employment and equality law. She is co-author of “Your Rights at Work”, the TUC’s book on employment rights.

Sarah is a member of the ACAS Council, the Women’s National Commission and the Employment Tribunals System Steering Board. She was also a member of the Government’s Better Regulation Commission and the Risk and Regulation Advisory Council.

She was awarded the CBE for services to diversity in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in June 2006.

Jeremy Mayhew

Jeremy Mayhew is non-party Common Councilman on the City of London Corporation, where he chairs the Audit & Risk Management Committee, having previously chaired the Barbican Centre Board.  

Most of Jeremy’s professional career has been in the media and broadcasting industry: in the past, he was a Board Director of BBC Worldwide and, for the past 10 years, he has worked as a consultant, advising clients in and about the media sector. He is also a former non-executive Board Member of both the Strategic Rail Authority and the London Development Agency.

Martin Traynor

Martin Traynor is currently the Group Chief Executive of the Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce.  Martin has extensive experience in the hospitality industry, having worked in hotel management for 22 years.  Having served

as the President of Loughborough Chamber of Trade, he became the President of the Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce in 1999 which led, two years later in 2001, to his current role. 

Alexander Ehmann 

Alexander Ehmann is currently the Head of Government and Parliamentary Affairs at the Institute of Directors (also Head of Regulation and Employment Policy). 

Alexander joined the IoD in 2006, having worked in Public Affairs and External Relations for PhonePayPlus, a UK telecommunications regulator.

Ken Warwick

Ken Warwick is a recently retired senior member of the Government Economic Service, with 35 years experience as an applied economist. Ken was the Deputy Chief Economic Advisor in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills from 2003-2011. Since leaving the GES he has established himself as an independent economics consultant.