Sir Gerald Arthur "Gerry" Whent (1 March 1927 in

Ferozepore Firozpur, also known as Ferozepur, is a city on the banks of the Sutlej River in Firozpur District, Punjab, India. After the partition of India in 1947, it became a border town on the India–Pakistan border with memorials to soldiers who di ...

, India – 16 May 2002 in

Chilton Foliat Chilton Foliat is a village and civil parish on the River Kennet in Wiltshire, England. The parish is in the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is on the county boundary with West Berkshire and is about northwest of the ...

, Wiltshire) was the founder and first chief executive of

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...

Early life

Gerald Arthur Whent was the youngest of four children of Major Albert Whent, of the Royal Artillery stationed in Palestine from 1938. Whent was educated at St Mary's College, Southampton.

Career

In 1980,

Ernest Harrison Sir Ernest Thomas Harrison (11 May 1926 – 16 February 2009) was an English businessman. He was best known as chairman of electronics company Racal and the first chairman of its spun-out mobile telephony division, Vodafone Vodafone Group ...

, chairman of

Racal Electronics Racal Electronics plc was a British electronics company that was founded in 1950. Listed on the London Stock Exchange and once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, Racal was a diversified company, offering products including voice loggers an ...

, the UK's largest maker of military radio technology, agreed a deal with Lord Weinstock of the

General Electric Company The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250 ...

to allow Racal to access some of GEC's tactical battlefield radio technology. Briefing Whent as the head of Racal's military radio division, Harrison told Whent to drive the company into commercial mobile radio. Whent also visited a factory run by

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

(unrelated to GEC) in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, USA, in the same year. In 1982, Racal's newly formed subsidiary Racal Strategic Radio Ltd, with Whent as CEO, won one of two UK cellular telephone network licences; the other going to

British Telecom BT Group plc (trade name, trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is th ...

. The network, known as Racal-Vodafone, was 80% owned by Racal, with

Millicom Millicom International Cellular SA (NASDAQ U.S.: TIGO, NASDAQ Stockholm: TIGO_SDB) is a Luxembourgish fixed line and mobile telecommunications services provider dedicated to emerging markets in Latin America operating under the Tigo brand. As of ...

and the Hambros Technology Trust owning 15% and 5% respectively. Vodafone was launched on 1 January 1985. Racal Strategic Radio was renamed Racal Telecommunications Group Limited in 1985. On 29 December 1986, Racal Electronics bought out the minority shareholders of Vodafone for GB£110 million. Under stock market pressure to realise full value for shareholders (the mobile unit was being valued at the same amount as the whole Racal group), in September 1988, the company was again renamed Racal Telecom, and on 26 October 1988, Racal Electronics floated 20% of the company. The flotation valued Racal Telecom at GB£1.7

billion Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions: *1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is its only current meaning in English. * 1,000,000,000,000, i.e ...

. On 16 September 1991, Racal Telecom was demerged from Racal Electronics as

. Under Whent, over the next few years Vodafone grew to become the UK's market leader. During his service on the board as CEO, Whent turned Vodafone into a standalone mobile communications business, with a stock market capitalisation of around £8bn.

Personal life

Whent was appointed a CBE and then knighted in the New Year's honours in 1995 for his services to mobile telecommunications. He retired in 1996, after which he undertook varying projects including helping to create a business park on the former site of the

Greenham Common Royal Air Force Greenham Common or RAF Greenham Common is a former Royal Air Force station in the civil parishes of Greenham and Thatcham in the English county of Berkshire. The airfield was southeast of Newbury, about west of London. Opened ...

air base. He was married twice. He had a son and daughter with his first wife Coris. He was a keen golf player and a huge fan of horse racing, Vodafone sponsoring The Derby from 1995 until 2005. He also ran Horris Vale Stud and then Raffin Stud with his second wife, Sarah.

References

External links

Raffin Stud
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whent, Gerry British racehorse owners and breeders Businesspeople awarded knighthoods Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Knights Bachelor 1927 births 2002 deaths British people in colonial India British people in Mandatory Palestine 20th-century English businesspeople