Sir John Harvey-Jones, MBE, is a former Chairman of ICI, and for three consecutive years his peers voted him Britain's Most Impressive Industrialist.

HIS IMMENSE RANGE OF TOPICS FOR CONFERENCES AND SEMINARS INCLUDE THE KEY GLOBAL MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS ISSUES, THE MANAGEMENT OF CHANGE AND MOTIVATION.

He was born in London and was educated at Tormore School in Deal, Kent, before going to the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth. He served in the Royal Navy and later worked in intelligence appointments and at the Cabinet Office. Sir John speaks Russian and German.He resigned from the navy with the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

He joined the work study department of ICI in 1956 and worked his way up the ranks, becoming Chairman of the Heavy Organic Chemicals Division in 1970, ICI Fibres Products Director in 1975, Deputy Chairman of the company in 1978, and Chairman in 1982, a position which he held until 1987.

Sir John has been the Chancellor of Bradford University, a Vice President of the Royal Society of Arts, Vice Chairman of the Policy Studies Institute and Institute of Marketing, and a Trustee of the Science Museum. He has been on the Boards of a number of companies, including The Economist, of which he was Chairman, Guinness Peat Aviation and Grand Metropolitan. Until recently he was Chairman of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust. Amongst many interests and charitable work,he is currently involved with the work of the Prince's Youth Business Trust, the British Polio Fellowship, The Book Trust and Friends of Brecon Jazz.

He presented the Richard Dimbleby Lecture, "Does Industry Matter?" for BBC Television in 1986, and in 1990 his BBC 2 series "Troubleshooter" won a BAFTA Special Award for Originality and was a finalist for the British Film Institute TV Award for the best Television Programme.

He is the author of "Making It Happen, Reflections on Leadership" (Collins 1988), "Troubleshooter", (with Anthea Masey) (BBC Books 1990) and "Getting it Together, Memoirs of a Troubleshooter" (Heinemann 1991), "Troubleshooter 2" (BBC Books 1992) which accompanied the second TV series of Troubleshooter, and "Managing to Survive" (Heinemann 1993). "All Together Now" (Heinemann 1994). A fourth BBC TV series "Troubleshooter Returns" was released in June 1995 and was again accompanied by a book (BBC Books 1995).

Sir John enjoys swimming, cooking and the countryside. He is an avid reader of contemporary literature. He is married with one daughter and a granddaughter.

Business, influential, Leadership,