Sir Michael Derek Vaughan Rake (born 17 January 1948) is a British businessman, former chairman of

BT Group BT Group plc (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 the largest provider of fixed-li ...

, former chairman of Worldpay and a director of

S&P Global S&P Global Inc. (prior to 2016, McGraw Hill Financial, Inc., and prior to 2013, The McGraw–Hill Companies, Inc.) is an American publicly traded corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City. Its primary areas of business are financia ...

. He served as president of the CBI from 2013 until 2015. He was appointed to the board of

Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ("Huawei" sometimes stylized as "HUAWEI"; ; zh, c=华为, p= ) is a Chinese multinational corporationtechnology company in Longgang, Shenzhen, Longgang, Shenzhen, Guangdong. Its main product lines include teleco ...

Technologies UK on 14 April 2020, having worked as an advisor for the company since 1 January 2019.

Early life

Rake was born in Rugby on 17 January 1948, the son of Group Captain Derek Shannon Vaughan Rake OBE AFC and Bar and Rosamond née Barrett. He went to prep school in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, followed by Wellington College. He qualified as a chartered accountant.

Career

He joined KPMG in 1974, and worked in continental Europe before transferring to the Middle East to run the practice for three years in 1986. He transferred to London in 1989, became a member of the UK board in 1991, had a number of leadership roles in the UK before being elected UK Senior Partner in 1998. He was Chairman of KPMG in Europe and Senior Partner of KPMG in the United Kingdom, prior to his appointment as chairman of KPMG International in May 2002, in which capacity he served till September 2007.

Board positions

Rake was chairman of Business in the Community from 2004 to 2007 and a member of the board of the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

International Business Leaders Forum between 1998 and 2007. He was chairman of

easyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airlin ...

from 2010 to April 2013. Rake is a vice president of the

RNIB RNIB (formally, the Royal National Institute of Blind People and previously the Royal National Institute for the Blind) is a British charity, founded in 1868, that serves people living with visual impairments. It is regarded as a leader in th ...

, a member of the board of the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue, the

Chartered Management Institute The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) is a professional institution for management based in the United Kingdom. It was founded as the British Institute of Management (BIM) in 1947 or 1948, merged with the Institution of Industrial Managers (I ...

, the DTI's US/UK Regulatory Taskforce, the Advisory Council for Business for New Europe, the Ethnic Minority Employment Taskforce, an Association Member of BUPA, The School of Oriental and African Studies advisory board, the advisory board of the Judge Institute at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, Senior Adviser for

Chatham House The Royal Institute of International Affairs, also known as Chatham House, is a British think tank based in London, England. Its stated mission is "to help governments and societies build a sustainably secure, prosperous, and just world". It ...

and the Global Advisory Board of the

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

Centre for Corporate Reputation. Rake is also a governor of Wellington College and a board member of Guards Polo Club. Rake was on the board of

Barclays Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services ...

from 2008 to December 2015; he was promoted to deputy chairman in 2012, but turned down the offer to become chairman. As of 2013, Rake was a trustee of

The Prince of Wales's Charitable Foundation King Charles III Charitable Fund (KCCF), formerly known as The Prince of Wales's Charitable Fund, is a United Kingdom-based charity fund. It provides grants to charity organisations in the United Kingdom and internationally. Grantee organisations v ...

. He was president of the CBI from June 2013 to July 2015. Rake was appointed Chairman of

Great Ormond Street Hospital Great Ormond Street Hospital (informally GOSH, formerly the Hospital for Sick Children) is a children's hospital located in the Bloomsbury area of the London Borough of Camden, and a part of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS F ...

in 2017.

Personal life

He is married with four children and five stepchildren, and was knighted in 2007. Rake donated £5,000 to Ed Davey's

2020 Liberal Democrats leadership election The 2020 Liberal Democrats leadership election was held in August 2020, after Jo Swinson, the previous leader of the Liberal Democrats, lost her seat in the 2019 general election. It was initially set to be held in July 2020, but due to the C ...

campaign.

Honors

Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (2020)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rake, Michael 1948 births Living people People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire Academics of the University of Cambridge BT Group people British accountants Knights Bachelor Barclays people British chairpersons of corporations Businesspeople awarded knighthoods American corporate directors KPMG people Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun