The President of the BA for 2006-2007 is Lord Browne, having taken over at the end of the BA Festival of Science in Norwich.
Lord Browne is Managing Director and Managing Partner in Europe of Riverstone Holdings LLC, a New York based private equity firm specializing exclusively in the energy and power sectors. He is former Group Chief Executive of BP, having first joined the company in 1966 as a university apprentice.
He holds a degree in Physics from Cambridge University and an MS in Business from Stanford University, California. He has also been awarded Honorary Doctorates from Heriot Watt University (D.Eng) and Robert Gordon University (D.Tech), Dundee University (LLD), Warwick University (D.Sc), Hull University (D.Sc), Cranfield University (D.Sc), Sheffield Hallam University (Hon. Duniv), University of Buckingham (D.Sc), Leuven University, Belgium (D.Sc), Thunderbird (LLD), University of Notre Dame (LLD), Colorado School of Mines (D.Eng), D Mendeleyev University of Chemical Technology of Russia.
He is an Honorary Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge and a Senior Member of St Antony’s College, Oxford. He is a Fellow and President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, a Fellow of the Institute of Petroleum, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, a Companion of the Institute of Management, an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Chemical Engineers, an Honorary Fellow of the Geological Society, an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Between 1969 and 1983, he held a variety of exploration and production posts in Anchorage, New York, San Francisco, London and Canada.
In 1984 he became Group Treasurer and Chief Executive of BP Finance International.
In April 1986, he took up the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of The Standard Oil Company in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1987, following the BP/Standard merger, in addition to his position as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of BP America, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Standard Oil Production Company.
In 1989, he became Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of BP Exploration based in London. In September 1991, he joined the Board of The British Petroleum Company p.l.c. as a Managing Director. He was appointed Group Chief Executive on June 10, 1995. Following the merger of BP and Amoco, he became Group Chief Executive of BP Amoco on December 31, 1998.
He is a non-executive director of the Intel Corporation and Goldman Sachs. He was a trustee of The British Museum from 1995-2005, a member of the Supervisory Board of DaimlerChrysler AG from 1998 – 2001 and a non-executive director of SmithKline Beecham from 1996-1999.
He is Chairman of the International Advisory Board of the School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, Chairman of the Cambridge Judge Business School and Emeritus Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is a Trustee of the Cambridge University Foundation, and a member of the Guild of Cambridge Benefactors. He is a member (and former Chairman) of the British American Business Inc. He is a member of the board of Catalyst; he is an honorary Trustee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, an honorary counsellor of the Conference Board, Inc. and a Vice President of the Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum.
In 1999, the Royal Academy of Engineering awarded him the Prince Philip Medal for his outstanding contribution to the field of Engineering. The Stanford Business School Alumni Association presented him with the Ernest C Arbuckle Award in 2001, in recognition of excellence in the field of management leadership. Other awards include the Henry Shaw Medal of the Missouri Botanical Gardens, the Gold Medal of the Institute of Management, the Institute of Energy Melchett Medal (2001), the Society of Petroleum Engineers Public Service Award (2002), the Institution of Chemical Engineers Commemorative Medal (2003) and the World Petroleum Congress Dewhurst Award (2005). In 2004, he received the inaugural Channing Corporate Citizenship Award from British American Business Inc.
He was voted Most Admired CEO by Management Today from 1999 – 2002.
He was knighted in 1998 and made a life peer in 2001.
Previous BA Presidents: