Sir Stephen James Lander, KCB (born 1947) is a former chairman of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

's Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), who also served as

Director General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive (government), executive officer, often the chief executive offi ...

of the British Security Service (

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Go ...

) from 1996 to 2002.

Career

Lander attended

Parkside School, Cobham Parkside School is a private preparatory school located in Cobham. Founded in 1879, the school caters for boys aged 2 to 13 and for girls in the nursery school section aged 2 to 4. History Originally established in 1879 in East Horsely, Park ...

Bishop's Stortford College Bishop's Stortford College is a independent day and boarding school in the English public school tradition for more than 1,200 pupils aged 4–18, situated in a campus on the edge of the market town of Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, Englan ...

and

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

, where he earned a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

entitled ''The diocese of Chichester 1508–1558 : Episcopal reform under Robert Sherburne and its aftermath''. In 1975, after three years at the

Institute of Historical Research The Institute of Historical Research (IHR) is a British educational organisation providing resources and training for historical researchers. It is part of the School of Advanced Study in the University of London and is located at Senate Hous ...

(part of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

) where he was assistant editor of the Victoria History of Cheshire, and serving as an Honorary Research Fellow of the University of Liverpool, he joined MI5. He was Director General of MI5 from 1996 to 2002. In April 2006, he was appointed chairman of Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). He retired from that post in 2009. In 1972, he married Felicity Mary Brayley and had a son and daughter. In September 2002, his son James died at age 28 of acute blood poisoning caused by drug and alcohol toxicity.

References

1947 births Date of birth missing (living people) Living people Directors General of MI5 Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge People educated at Bishop's Stortford College People educated at Parkside School, Cobham {{UK-crime-bio-stub