Sir Derek Alan Higgs was an English businessman and merchant banker.
Background
His father, Alan Higgs, was a multimillionaire through property businesses in the Midlands. Sir Derek was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire and was educated at Solihull School, and in 1963 he went to the University of Bristol and graduated in Economics and Accounting in 1966.
Career
He was knighted in 2004. After graduating from the University of Bristol in 1966, Sir Derek joined Price Waterhouse, a large accountancy firm, and after training he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. In 1969 he became a corporate finance executive at Baring Brothers, a merchant bank.
He moved-on and joined South. G. Warburg & Company in 1972 and continued his career in merchant banking.
In 2002 the British Labour Government commissioned Sir Derek to chair the Review of the role and effectiveness of non-executive directors. The report, widely known as the "Higgs review" or "Higgs report", was published on 20 January 2003 and many of its recommendations for large companies have been implemented.
In October 2005 he became the chairman of the Alliance & Leicester bank and worked there through difficult times, which were partly caused the cr crunch that took effect during 2007 in Britain. His father, Alan Higgs died in 1979, and because he thought that inherited wealth did more harm than good, he made provision for a charity to be created after his death to help deprived children from Coventry and nearby localities.
In January 2008 he also became one of the trustees of the Scott Trust, a British non-profit organisation which owns the Guardian Media Group.
He has been on the Board of s of The Architecture Foundation.
Membership
He was also a board member of several companies including Prudential, British Land, and Coventry City Football Club.