John Egan (industrialist)

For other people named John Egan, see John Egan (disambiguation).

Sir John Leopold Egan DL FIC (born 7 November 1939) is a British industrialist, associated with businesses in the automotive, airports, construction and water industries.^[1] He was chief executive and chairman of Jaguar Cars from 1980 to 1990 and chairman of Jaguar plc from 1985 to 1990, and then served as chief executive of BAA from 1990 to 1999. He is also notable for chairing the construction industry task force that produced the 1998 Egan Report (Rethinking Construction) and the follow-up report, Accelerating Change, in 2002. During 2004, undertook the Egan Review of Skills for Sustainable Communities for the Blair Government. In 2004, after completing two years as president of the Confederation of British Industry, he was appointed chairman of Severn Trent.

Career

John Egan was born in Rawtenstall, Lancashire, the son of a garage owner.^[2] The family moved to Coventry where he went to Bablake School.^[3] He studied petroleum engineering at Imperial College London and subsequently from 1962 to 1966 worked for Shell in the Middle East. After further studies, this time at London Business School, he moved to AC Delco in 1968 and then British Leyland where he played a part in boosting the fortunes of its Unipart business.

After a four-year spell as Corporate Parts Director of Massey Ferguson,^[2] Egan was appointed chairman of Jaguar Cars in 1980, turning round what had been a struggling business. A carmaker facing closure when he took over was sold ten years later to Ford for £1.6bn,^[4] at which time (March 1990) Egan moved to become Chief Executive of BAA.

Egan then assumed a variety of non-executive business roles and served as president of the CBI from 2002 to 2004, when he took on the chairmanship of Midlands water company Severn Trent.

Egan is currently the President of the Jaguar Drivers' Club, the only Jaguar owners club to be officially sanctioned by Sir William Lyons and Jaguar cars.

Roles

His other major roles include:

• non-executive chairman of motor distributor Inchcape plc
• non-executive chairman of Harrison Lovegrove
• non-executive vice chairman Legal & General
• chairman, Asite Ltd (2001–2004)
• president, Confederation of British Industry (2002–2004)
• chairman Central London Partnership
• chairman, London Tourist Board (September 1993 - December 1997)
• president, London Tourist Board
• deputy chairman of London First
• vice-president, Marketing Council
• member of Council, Institute of Directors
• president Institute of Management
• chancellor, Coventry University (2007-2017)^[5]
• president, Jaguar Drivers' Club

Honours

Honours include:

• Honorary Graduate, Doctor of Laws, University of Bath, 1988^[6]
• Bicentenary Medal of the Royal Society of Arts, 1995
• Honorary doctorate, Brunel University, 1997^[7]
• Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Warwickshire
• Knighted in the 1986 Birthday Honours
• Honorary Texas Citizen 1985
• Fellow of Imperial College 1987
• Senior Fellow Royal College of Art 1987
• Fellow of London Business School 1988
• MBA of the year 1988
• University of Manitoba Distinguished International Entrepreneur 1989
• University of Westminster Doctor of Letters 1998
• Coventry Award of Merit.