Ian Livingston, Baron Livingston of Parkhead explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Right Honourable
The Lord Livingston of Parkhead
Office:Minister of State for Trade and Investment
Primeminister:David Cameron
Predecessor:The Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint
Successor:The Lord Maude of Horsham
Term Start:11 December 2013
Term End:11 May 2015
Office12:Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Term Start12:15 July 2013
Life Peerage
Birth Name:Ian Paul Livingston
Birth Date:28 July 1964
Birth Place:Glasgow, Scotland
Alma Mater:University of Manchester
Party:Conservative
Occupation:Politician
Profession:Businessman
Spouse:Deborah (m. 1989)
Residence:Elstree, Hertfordshire, England
Children:2

Ian Paul Livingston, Baron Livingston of Parkhead (born 28 July 1964),[1] is a Scottish businessman who was formerly chief executive of BT Group. A Conservative member of the House of Lords, he previously served as the UK government's Minister of State for Trade and Investment.[2]

He was created a life peer on 15 July 2013 taking the title Baron Livingston of Parkhead.[3]

Early and personal life

The fourth generation son of Polish-Lithuanian Jews who arrived in Scotland 120 years ago, Livingston's family owned a factory making flying jackets and police uniforms.[4] Livingston is the youngest of four children brought up in Kelvinside, his father was a general practitioner who practised medicine in Parkhead.[5]

Livingston was educated at Hillhead Primary School before attending the independent Kelvinside Academy. He married his university contemporary, Deborah, in 1989. They live in Elstree, Hertfordshire and have two children (one son, one daughter).[6]

Career

After graduating with an economics degree from the University of Manchester at the age of 19, he trained as an accountant with Arthur Andersen, where, on assignment, he became the first chief accountant of The Independent newspaper.[4] Livingston then moved to Bank of America, and then private equity firm 3i.

After being spotted by Sir Stanley Kalms, he moved to the corporate development department of Dixons Group in 1991, before becoming the youngest FTSE 100 finance director at the age of 32.

After the sale of Freeserve, Livingston joined BT Group as finance director, before he took up the post of CEO Retail, on 7 February 2005. He replaced Ben Verwaayen as Group CEO on 1 June 2008.[7]

Livingston was a non-executive director of Celtic F.C., where he was appointed to the board on 1 October 2007.[8] In 2015, after he voted for cutting tax credits, Celtic fans launched a petition to have him removed from the board.[9] [10] Livingston resigned from the board in June 2017.[11]

Livingston became Chairman of Currys plc in August 2017 [12] and he served in that role until September 2022.

Arms

Motto:More To Do
Notes:Granted by the Lord Lyon. Letters patent illuminated by Maggie Spalding.[13]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/search/results/19468/Ian+Paul+Livingston+LIVINGSTON+OF+PARKHEAD.aspx.
  2. Web site: Lord Livingston of Parkhead. UK Parliament.
  3. Web site: Introduction of Lord Livingston of Parkhead - News from Parliament - UK Parliament . Parliament of the United Kingdom.
  4. News: BT boss Ian Livingston faces tough calls. The Sunday Times. London.
  5. Web site: 2010-02-07 . Monday profile: Ian Livingston, chief executive, BT . 2023-05-15 . The Scotsman . en.
  6. Web site: PolicyMogul . 2023-05-15 . policymogul.com . en.
  7. News: BT names Ian Livingston to succeed Ben Verwaayen . https://web.archive.org/web/20080414090020/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/04/08/bcnbt108.xml . dead . 2008-04-14 . The Daily Telegraph . London . Richard . Blackden .
  8. Web site: Celtic FC Board of Directors. 30 May 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080509190336/http://celticfc.net/home/corporate/board.aspx. 9 May 2008. dead.
  9. Web site: Celtic fans call for director to be booted out for voting for tax credit cuts. Charlie. Gall. . 29 October 2015.
  10. Web site: Support for petition to sack Celtic director Lord Livingston over tax credits rises to 7500. HeraldScotland. 30 October 2015 .
  11. Web site: Termination of a Director Appointment. 3 July 2017. Companies House.
  12. Web site: Lord Livingston to take over as chairman of Dixons Carphone. The Yorkshire Post. 9 October 2021.
  13. Web site: The Court of The Lord Lyon. Maggie Spalding . 10 March 2024 . 28 July 2020 .