John Cridland,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(born 3 February 1961) is a British business executive. He was the tenth Director-General of the

Confederation of British Industry The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is a UK business organisation, which in total claims to speak for 190,000 businesses, this is made up of around 1,500 direct members and 188,500 non-members. The non members are represented through the 1 ...

(CBI) from January 2011 to November 2015.

Education

Cridland was educated at

Boston Grammar School The Boston Grammar School is a Grammar school, selective grammar school and sixth form college for boys aged 11 to 18 and girls attending the sixth form aged 16–18 located in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. A recent 2021 Ofsted report assesse ...

and studied Indian and African history at

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

Career

He joined the CBI as a policy adviser in 1982 and became its youngest ever director in 1991, when he took over the environmental affairs brief. He moved on to human resources policy in 1995, where he helped negotiate the UK's first national minimum wage and entry into the European Union's "social chapter" on employment conditions. He was promoted to the post of deputy director-general in 2000. Beyond his work with the CBI, Cridland served on the Low Pay Commission from its formation in 1997 until 2007. He was vice chair of the National Learning and Skills Council between 2007 and 2010 and spent 10 years on the Low Pay Commission and the council of the conciliation service,

ACAS The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) is a Crown non-departmental public body of the Government of the United Kingdom. Its purpose is to improve organisations and working life through the promotion and facilitation of strong ...

. He was also a member of the Commission on Environmental Markets and Economic Performance and the Women and Work Commission; vice-chairman of the Learning and Skills Council; a board member of Business in the Community; a UK Commissioner for Employment and Skills and a member of the council of

Cranfield University , mottoeng = After clouds light , established = 1946 - College of Aeronautics 1969 - Cranfield Institute of Technology (gained university status by royal charter) 1993 - Cranfield University (adopted current name) , type = Public research uni ...

. He announced his decision to step down as director-general in March 2015, saying "I'm a big

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

fan and just like

James Kirk James Tiberius Kirk is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. Originally played by Canadian actor William Shatner, Kirk first appeared in ''Star Trek'' serving aboard the starship USS ''Enterprise'' as captain. Kirk leads ...

I have always told colleagues at internal meetings that I saw this as part of a five-year journey." His resignation followed in November. He was succeeded by Carolyn Fairbairn. Cridland was appointed a CBE for services to business in 2006 and honorary doctorates from the

University of Lincoln , mottoeng = Freedom through wisdom , established = 1861 – Hull School of Art1905 – Endsleigh College1976 – Hull College1992 – University of Humberside1996 – University of Lincolnshire and Humberside2001 � ...

in 2011 and the

University of Bedfordshire The University of Bedfordshire is a public research university with campuses in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England. The University has roots from 1882, however, it gained university status in 1993 as the University of Luton. The Universi ...

in 2013. Unlike his five predecessors, he was not awarded a Knighthood, at the end of his term as Director General at CBI. In March 2016, the

Department for Work and Pensions , type = Department , seal = , logo = Department for Work and Pensions logo.svg , logo_width = 166px , formed = , preceding1 = , jurisdiction = Government of the United Kingdom , headquarters = Caxton House7th Floor6–12 Tothill Stree ...

announced that Cridland would lead the UK's first State Pension age review. He was the first Chair of

Transport for the North Transport for the North (TfN) is the first statutory sub-national transport body in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 2018 to make the case for strategic transport improvements across the North of England. Creating this body represented an ...

(TfN), the first sub-national transport body in the UK, and was installed in the role in November 2015. In May 2021, it was announced he would stand down from the role later that year. He formally ended his term as Chairman in July 2021.

Personal life

He is married with two children.

References

External links

1961 births Living people British businesspeople People educated at Boston Grammar School {{UK-business-bio-1960s-stub