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Charles Allen, Baron Allen of Kensington

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The Right Honourable
The Lord Allen of Kensington
CBE
Born4 January 1957 (1957-01-04) (age 67)
Lanarkshire, Scotland[1]
NationalityBritish
OccupationBusinessman and Broadcaster
Years active1991–present
TitleCEO of Granada Group (1996–2000)
Non-exec. director of Tesco plc (1999–2010)[2]
Exec. chairman of Granada Media plc (2000–04)
CEO of ITV plc (2004–07)
Chairman of Global Radio (2007–present)
Exec. chairman of EMI (2008–10)
Chairman of Executive Board of the Labour Party (March 2012-2015)
Chairman of British Red Cross (2013–2014)
Chairman of ISS A/S (2013–present)


Charles Lamb Allen, Baron Allen of Kensington, CBE (born 4 January 1957) is a British businessman and broadcaster who is the Chairman of Global Radio, 2 Sisters Food Group, ISS and Advisory Chairman at Moelis & Company. Lord Allen was Chief Executive of Granada Group from 1996 to 2000, Executive Chairman of Granada Media plc from 2000 to 2004, Chief Executive of ITV plc from its formation in 2004 until 2007, and Chairman of the music company EMI. He was Chairman of Endemol, a non Executive Director of Tesco plc and Virgin Media. In March 2012, he was appointed by Ed Miliband, the leader of the Labour Party, to the position of Chairman of the Executive Board of the party. He has been Chairman of the British Red Cross.

Education

Allen was educated at Bellshill Academy,[3] a state school in the town of Bellshill in North Lanarkshire in central Scotland. He did not attend university, and says of his life, "It’s been an amazing journey considering I left school at 17 with no job to go to".[4]

Television

Allen joined Granada plc in 1991, originally as CEO of Granada Television, before becoming Group Chief Executive in 1996. During his time at Granada, he was instrumental in the takeover of Forte Group for £3.9 billion in 1996, and the takeovers of LWT and Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television in 1994 and 1999 respectively. In 2001 Granada Group merged with Compass to form Granada Compass, then demerged into Granada Media plc and Compass Group. He remained with Granada when the two companies demerged, and became Executive Chairman of Granada plc in 2001. When Granada merged with Carlton Communications in 2004 to form ITV plc, Allen became the new company's Chief Executive.[5]

ITV plc announced on 8 August 2006 that Allen was stepping down after fifteen years with the company.

Radio

Since 2007, Allen has been Chairman of the largest commercial radio group in Britain, Global Radio, which owns Capital, Heart, Classic FM, LBC, Radio X and Gold.

Other interests

Allen has been Chief Advisor to the British Government at the Home Office and was a Senior Advisor to Goldman Sachs Private Equity.

Allen successfully chaired the 2002 Commonwealth Games. He was Vice Chair of the Olympic bid and a Director of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.. He was also Mayor of the Olympic Village.

Honours

Allen was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2003 New Year Honours "for services to the XVII Commonwealth Games".[6] He was knighted in the 2012 New Year Honours "for services to the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics".[7][8]

On 25 May 2012, he was named as Mayor of the Olympic Village in London, for the duration of the Olympics.

On 1 August 2013, it was announced that Allen was to become a Labour peer in a list of new appointments to the House of Lords.[9] He was created a Life Peer on 2 October 2013 taking the title Baron Allen of Kensington, of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.[10]

On 20th May 2016, Allen was appointed as a member of the Lords Communications Committee.

In 2006 he was awarded the Freedom of the City of London.

References

  1. ^ "The Charles Allen years". The Guardian. 8 August 2006. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  2. ^ "Board of Directors". Tesco. Archived from the original on 10 September 2011. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  3. ^ Jane Martinson (9 December 2005). "Charles Allen: a survivor in the minefield of the media". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  4. ^ Richard Dunnett (5 January 2016). "Global Radio chairman Lord Allen on Brexit, boardrooms and the BBC". Director.co.uk. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  5. ^ ITV plc Archived 2006-11-28 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 6 July 2006.
  6. ^ "No. 56797". The London Gazette (invalid |supp= (help)). 31 December 2002.
  7. ^ "No. 60009". The London Gazette (invalid |supp= (help)). 31 December 2011.
  8. ^ "No. 60245". The London Gazette. 21 August 2012.
  9. ^ Craig, Jon (1 August 2013). "JCB Boss Sir Anthony Bamford Made Tory Peer". Sky News. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  10. ^ "No. 60648". The London Gazette. 4 October 2013.
Preceded by
None
 Chief Executive of ITV plc
2004–06 		Succeeded by
Michael Grade
(Executive chairman)
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