Background
His father died when he was at school.
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Chris Gent
Edit ProfileEducation
He attended Tenison"s School, then a grammar school in Kennington.
Career
He is currently the chairman of GlaxoSmithKline, the world"s fourth largest pharmaceutical company. Born in 1948 in Beckenham, Kent, Gent was raised in Gosport, Hampshire. He is one of four brothers (Rod, Chris, Jeremy and Pete).
From 1977-1979, he was Chairman of the Young Conservatives.
He first worked for the National Westminster Bank in 1971 as a management trainee, then as a computer services manager at Schroders. In 1979 he became the Managing Director of Baric, a company owned by International Computers Limited and Barclays.
Vodafone
Gent was widely credited with transforming Vodafone from a small British company into a global giant, and who engineered Vodafone"s 178 billion pound ($212 billion) historic purchase of Germany"s Mannesmann in 2000. He became its Managing Director in January 1985 and its chief executive officer (taking over from Sir Gerald Whent) in January 1997.
In 2001, Gent was an advocate of the United Kingdom joining the euro
The title carried no salary, nor any advisory responsibilities, but was a symbolic link to the business that few former chief executives are allowed to retain.
He is now Chairman of GlaxoSmithKline, a British multinational pharmaceutical company, joining in June 2004 and becoming Chairman on 1 January 2005. From October 2005 to October 2006 he served on the Tax Reform Commission, established by the then Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne Member of Parliament.
Achievements
Membership
Gent was one of four members of the compensation committee of the board at Lehman Brothers that authorised the payout for its failed Chief Executive Officer, Dick Fuld, who received $34 m in 2007 and $40.5 m in 2006.
