Sir Christopher Charles Gent (born 10 May 1948 in Gosport, Hampshire) is the former chief executive officer of Vodafone, a British mobile phone company. He is currently the chairman of GlaxoSmithKline the worlds second largest pharmaceutical, biological, and healthcare company.

[edit] Early life

He attended Tenison's School, then a grammar school in Kennington. His father died when he was at school. From 1977-9, he was Chairman of the Young Conservatives.

[edit] Career

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 ICL and Barclays.

[edit] 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. Vodafone is Britain's second biggest company, next to BP.

After retiring from Vodafone in July 2003, he was awarded the honorary title of Company's President for Life on his departure as a mark of his achievement in developing the company, till his resignation from that position in March 2006. 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 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 Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne MP.

Gent was one of four members of the compensation committee of the board at Lehman Brothers that authorized the payout for its failed CEO, Dick Fuld, considered in 2008 to be the most overpaid CEO with receiving $ 34 m in 2007 and $ 40.5 m in 2006.^[1]

[edit] Personal life

He received a knighthood for his services to the telecoms industry in the 2001 Queen's birthday honours list.

In March 2007 Gent called for a referendum on London's hosting of the 2012 Olympics. He was quoted as saying "I cannot see that the long-term economic benefit of hosting the Games outweighs the costs and the horrific burden on the taxpayer, particularly London rate-payers. The cost for them is going to be astronomically high."

He is a big fan of cricket, going to school next door to The Oval. Vodafone sponsored the England cricket team for many years until 2007. He married Kate in July 1999 in Wokingham and they have two sons. He has two daughters from a former marriage. He lives in Lambourn in Berkshire.

[edit] References

1. ^ The Lex Column (2008-12-22). "Overpaid CEO award". Financial Times: 12. 

[edit] External links

• GSK
• Honorary degree from Brunel University in 2000