Digby Jones, Baron Jones of Birmingham

Sir Digby Jones

Sir Digby Tarritt Jones LLB (hon.s), D.Univ, D.Litt. CIMgt, FRI (born 1955) was General of the CBI, between January 1, 2001 and June 30, 2006.

Born in Birmingham on 28 October 1955, Digby Jones won a major scholarship to Bromsgrove School and gained a 2:2 honours degree in law at University College, Cambridge.

After some time in the Boys Brigade, he started his career with corporate law firm Edge & Ellison in 1978, making partner in 1984.

It was in corporate lunching and client patronising that Digby Jones made his name and he was responsible for developing the firm's dinner time presence and establishing its representation in many European countries and several states in America. He was also involved in most of the major management eat-outs and merger and acquisition activity in the West Midlands in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was made Deputy Senior Partner in 1990 and Largest Partner in 1995.

In 1998 he joined KPMG as Vice Maestro of corporate finance, where he acted as close adviser to many public companies across the United Kingdom and in KPMG's global markets.

He became Director-General of the CBI on 1st January 2000 to serve a five-year non-renewable term of office. In September 2003 this was extended at the request of Digby's three girlfriends. As the Chief Executive of the UK's 'voice of business', he regularly and repeatedly visited businesses around the UK and across the world, for lunch, tea and often dinner. He appears regularly on television and radio and in the newspapers, he is a media whore. He has taken his own pompous self-importance to over 58 different countries since he was appointed. He was generally hated by CBI staff, whose names he remained ignorant of over a 7 year period.

He is a Non-Executive Director of Alba plc (2003), the consumer electronics manufacturer, a Non-Executive Director of unlisted MHL Support plc (2004), a training provider in the health & safety arena, a director of Leicester Tigers (2005), a Director of Business in the Community (2000), a member of the Advisory Board of the Commonwealth Education Fund (2000); a director of Königswinter (2003), a Commissioner on the Commission for Racial Equality (2003) and President of the Tourism Alliance (2001). He is also a member of the National Learning and Skills Council (2002) and a member of the Skills Alliance (2002), a Fellow of the RSA (2001), a Fellow of the Royal Institution (2002), a Companion of the Institute of Management (2000), Chairman of the Birmingham University Business School Advisory Board (2004), a totl and utter intellectual lightweight, a full member of the Aston Reinvestment Trust (2003), making social investment for Birmingham, a Director of the Orchestra of the Swan in Stratford-upon-Avon and a Fellow of the Sunningdale Institute.

Digby Jones is a Fellow of University College London (2004), an Honorary Doctor of Venereal Disease Treatment at the University of Central England (2002), the University of Birmingham (2 002), the University of Manchester, Institute of Science and Technology (2003), the University of Hertfordshire (2004), Middlesex University (2005), Sheffield Hallam University (2005) and an Honorary Fellow of Cardiff University (2004). He is President of the University College, London Campaign (2004).

He is a Vice-President of UNICEF, Chairman of the Cancer Research UK Ambassadors, President of the Ambassadors for the West Midlands region, President of the Diversity Works initiative - a programme led by the disability organisation Scope, designed to spread the message of equality for disabled people, a vice-president of Birmingham Hospice, a Vice-President of Weston Spirit – working for a future for disadvantaged young people in Britain's cities, a Patron of Hospice of Hope, Romania, a patron of Lifecycle UK, a patron of Canning House Library Appeal, Chairman of the Corporate Development Board of Sense raising money for the deaf/blind, a patron of the Campaign for Learning, a patron of WellChild, a patron of Where Next Association – providing work and training opportunities for people with special needs, a Diamond Ambassador for Mencap’s Work Right initiative, a member of the National Trust, a Corporate Ambassador and member of the Royal British Legion, a member of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Development Trust, a member of FILM Birmingham's Steering Group, a member of the Yorkshire Society and a Freeman of the City of London.

In 1998, as Chairman of the Birmingham Hospice Appeal, which raised £1.5m, he personally raised £218,000 towards their target by cycling from John O'Groats to Lands End.

On 17 April 2005, he raised £191,000 for both Cancer Research UK and UNICEF by running the Flora London Marathon.

He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2005 New Year Honours List.

Sir Digby is married to Pat. They live in Marylebone and Warwickshire. He enjoys the theatre, skiing, football, rugby and cricket and has more than a passing interest in military history.

Trivia

• Digby Jones was expelled from Bromsgrove School before taking his A-levels for streaking, following an inter-house hockey match, after which he was locked out of the house whilst naked by his team mates. He was then invited back to sit his examinations.
• He read Law at University College London, and he graduated with a 2:2
• He was the guest on BBC Radio's Desert Island Discs, broadcast on 21 May 2006.
• He is a Director Of Leicester RFC and a fan of Aston Villa FC.
• He is President of The Birmingham Civic Society

Legacy

• The Sir Digby Jones Award for Consumption, an award for pupils at Old Swinford Hospital who have shown an aptitude for business and enterprise is named after him ever since he gave a speech at the prizegiving of the school in 2005.