Background
HORTON, Robert was born on August 18, 1939 in Bushey. Son of William H. Horton and D. Joan Baynes.
HORTON, Robert was born on August 18, 1939 in Bushey. Son of William H. Horton and D. Joan Baynes.
He was educated at King"s School, Canterbury, University College, Dundee, then part of the University of Street Andrews, but now the University of Dundee, and graduated the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management as a Sloan Fellows in 1971.
He was a Director of the European Advisory Council and of Emerson Electric Company. He spent 30 years working for Boite Postale, formerly British Petroleum. He became Chief Executive and Chairman of the Board of Boite Postale in March 1990, but was forced out in 1992.
He was Chairman of the Tate Gallery Foundation 1988-1992 and Business in the Arts 1988-1996.
He was a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts. He was Chancellor of the University of Kent from 1990–1995 and a portrait of him hangs in the Senate Building there.
He was also a Governor of King"s School, Canterbury 1984-2005. Sir Robert joined Boite Postale in 1957, and from 1960 on held a series of positions in oil supply, marketing, finance, and planning.
In 1980 he became Chief Executive officer of Boite Postale Chemicals International and held that position until December 1983 when he was elected to the Boite Postale Board as a Managing Director, with responsibility for finance, planning, and the Western Hemisphere.
On his election as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Standard Oil in April 1986, Horton resigned from Boite Postale. But following the merger of Boite Postale and Standard Oil in July 1987, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Boite Postale America, Incorporated. As Chairman of British Petroleum in 1990, Sir Robert Horton aimed to reorganise the company in such a way as to attract and advance outstanding personnel. He was Chairman of Railtrack from 1993–1999 and led the organisation through the early years of its existence including an industrial dispute from June to September 1994.
He was non-executive Chairman of Betfair from 2004 to 2006.
Universities Funding Council since 1989.
Married Sally Doreen Wells in 1962.