Sir Michael Roger Gifford

KStJ The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of c ...

KNO Kno, Inc. was a software company that worked with publishers to offer digital textbooks and other educational materials. In November 2013, after raising nearly $100 million in venture capital, the company was acquired by Intel. The website was ...

(3 August 1955 – 25 May 2021) was a British banker in London who served as the 685th

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...

from 2012 to 2013. Gifford was the UK head of

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (, abbreviated SEB, is a northern European financial services group headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. In Sweden and the Baltic countries, SEB has a full financial service offering. In Denmark, Finland, Norway, ...

(SEB) from 2000 and was also a Patron of the financial and enterprise education charity " MyBnk".

Early life

Gifford was born in

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

, Scotland to Douglas Gifford (of Argentinian and Lowland Scots descent) and Hazel Collingwood. He was educated at

Sedbergh School Sedbergh School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in the town of Sedbergh in Cumbria, in North West England. It comprises a junior school for children aged 4 to 13 and the main school for 13 to 18 year olds. It w ...

before going up to Trinity College, Oxford, graduating with an MA degree in Chemistry.

Career

Gifford started his career in finance with

SG Warburg S. G. Warburg & Co. was a London-based investment bank. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The firm was acquired by the Swiss Bank Corporation in 1995 and ultimately became a part of UBS. ...

(1978–82), working in international banking and capital markets. In 1982, he left to join a new merchant bank, Enskilda Securities, '' Skandinaviska Enskilda Bank'' and, from 1994 to 2000, he headed the bank's operations in Japan. From 2000 to 2017 he was SEB's UK country manager and was a Senior Banker. He was also Chair of the UK Green Finance Institute having led the Green Finance Initiative (2016) and the UK Government's Green Finance Taskforce (2017). A former chairman of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce (UK) and of the Association of Foreign Banks (UK), he was a Chair of

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

Council, Founding Chair of the

City Music Foundation The City Music Foundation (CMF) is an organization that supports professional musicians in the United Kingdom in developing their careers. Musicians can apply for support. It was Rhinegold Charity of the Year in 2018. The organization supports ...

, the English Chamber Orchestra charity and the Tenebrae Choir, among other Arts involvements. He was a liveryman of the Worshipful Companies of Musicians, Master (2016-2017), Cordwainers and Security Professionals, the

Worshipful Company of International Bankers The Worshipful Company of International Bankers is one of the livery companies of the City of London. Its members are current or former members of the financial services industry, primarily banking. It is based in a building in Austin Friars, ...

, Master (2010–11) and was sponsoring

Alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

for the

Guild of Public Relations Practitioners The Company of Public Relations Practitioners is a company without livery in the City of London, and was granted this status in 2013. The Company was formed in 2000 as the Guild of Public Relations Practitioners to represent the public relation ...

. Sir Roger joined th
Bank Workers Charity
Trustee Board in 2011 and, following his term as Lord Mayor of London, was appointed its President on 1 March 2014. He believed there is a continuing need to support banking industry employees and to enhance the ethics and culture of the sector.

Civic service

Gifford was elected as

for the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

Ward of

Cordwainer A cordwainer () is a shoemaker who makes new shoes from new leather. The cordwainer's trade can be contrasted with the cobbler's trade, according to a tradition in Britain that restricted cobblers to repairing shoes. This usage distinction is ...

in 2004 and was a member of the City of London Corporation Culture Heritage and Libraries Committee; he served as Sheriff of London from 2008 to 2009. In October 2012, he was elected

and took office on 9 November. Speaking after his election, Gifford said: "Next month will mark exactly 30 years since I joined SEB and 35 years since I first started working in the City. During this time, London's Square Mile has become a truly global centre – and the focus of my year in office will be to underline that service is, and must be, at the heart of the financial services industry of the UK. In other words that the City must serve society – and be seen to do so." While Lord Mayor, he carried the Mourning Sword at the funeral of Margaret Thatcher, leading the Queen and Prince Philip in and out of

for the ceremony. The last time it had been used was at the

state funeral A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of Etiquette, protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive ...

Sir Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...

in 1965. Gifford's Lord Mayoral charitable appeal, under the banner "The City in Society", focused on the City of London as a global centre for

philanthropy Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

and

the Arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

Personal life

Gifford and his wife, Dr Clare Taylor, Lady Gifford, lived in London. A

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, Sir Roger listed his recreations as chamber music, singing, opera, gardening, and forestry. Gifford died from complications of

myeloma Multiple myeloma (MM), also known as plasma cell myeloma and simply myeloma, is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell that normally produces antibodies. Often, no symptoms are noticed initially. As it progresses, bone pain, anemi ...

in 2021, aged 65.

Honours

In 2013, as

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

''ex officio'', Gifford received an

Hon Hon or HON may refer to: People * Han (surname) (Chinese: 韩/韓), also romanized Hon * Louis Hon (1924–2008), French footballer * Priscilla Hon (born 1998), Australian tennis player Other uses * Hon (Baltimore), a cultural stereotype of ...

DSc DSC may refer to: Academia * Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) * District Selection Committee, an entrance exam in India * Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine Educational institutions * Dalton State Col ...

from City University and was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in the

2014 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2014 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for "services to international business, culture, and the City of London". He was awarded an Hon LLD by St Andrews University in the same year. * Knight-Bachelor

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

: Knight of the Most Venerable Order of St John * Order of the Polar Star (after 1975) - Commander

2007: Commander of the Order of the Polar Star (

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

) *

FIN Order of the Lion of Finland 3Class BAR

2011: Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland * Order of Kuwait (First Class)

2012: Member 5th Class of the

Order of Kuwait The Order of Kuwait (''Wisam al-Kuwait'') is an award given by the State of Kuwait. It ranks below the Order of Mubarak the Great The Order of Mubarak the Great (''Wisam Mubarak al-Kabir'') is a knighthood order of Kuwait. History The Order wa ...

References

External links

Profile on the Worshipful Company of Musicians website

Listing on Debrett's People of Today website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gifford, Roger 1955 births 2021 deaths People from St Andrews British people of Argentine descent People educated at Sedbergh School Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford Fellows of Trinity College, Oxford Councilmen and Aldermen of the City of London Sheriffs of the City of London Scottish bankers Freemasons of the United Grand Lodge of England 21st-century lord mayors of London 21st-century British politicians Commanders of the Order of the Lion of Finland Commanders of the Order of the Polar Star Knights of Justice of the Order of St John Knights Bachelor Businesspeople awarded knighthoods Deaths from multiple myeloma in the United Kingdom