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Iain Vallance, Baron Vallance of Tummel

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The Right HonourableThe Lord Vallance of TummelFRSA
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
22 June 2004 – 13 January 2020
Personal details
Born (1943-05-20) May 20, 1943 (age 81)
Political partyLiberal Democrats

Iain David Thomas Vallance, Baron Vallance of Tummel, FRSA (born 20 May 1943) is a British businessman and a retired Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords.

Early life and education

Vallance was educated at the Edinburgh Academy, Dulwich College, London and The Glasgow Academy. In 1965 he graduated from Brasenose College, Oxford with a Bachelor of Arts in English language and literature, and in 1972 from the London Business School with a Master of Science in business administration.

Career

Post Office

Vallance worked in the Post Office from 1966 to 1981, as director of central finance from 1976 to 1978, as director of telecommunications finance from 1978 to 1979 and as director of materials department from 1979 to 1981.

BT

In 1981 he moved to the soon to be privatised British Telecommunications, for which he worked until 2002. After a period in finance, Vallance became Chief of Operations in 1985, and Chief Executive from 1986 to 1995, as chairman from 1987 until, with many investors calling for his resignation, he resigned as chairman in 2001, and finally served as president emeritus from 2001 to 2002. In 1999 he made a speech to the Telecoms Managers Association, which led to him being called the lollipop man:

Iain Vallance: When it comes to the mass deployment of new technology across our network, BT has the unenviable task of the lollipop man. His job is to restrain the over-exuberant children from dashing across the road at will, and to ensure that the crossing is made safely and in an orderly fashion.

The Greenbury Committee

In 1995 Vallance was a member of the Greenbury committee which produced a report, known as the Greenbury Report, into executive remuneration. The report was formally commissioned at the behest of the CBI, although in his memoirs Michael Heseltine claims that he personally instigated the formation of the committee.

Vallance's appointment to the committee came despite previous high-profile controversy over his own pay at BT.

Siemens

Since 2003 he has been member of the supervisory board of Siemens.

Honours

He was made a Knight Bachelor in 1994 and was created a life peer with the title Baron Vallance of Tummel, of Tummel in Perth and Kinross on 22 June 2004.

Vallance also received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 1995

Family

Vallance married Elizabeth Mary McGonnigill in 1967; they had one daughter and a son. Lady Vallance died in 2020.

References

  1. "Vallance resigns from BT". BBC News. 26 April 2001.
  2. "Outlook: It is nice to be a lollipop man - just ask BT". The Independent. London. 8 December 1999.
  3. Life in the Jungle: My Autobiography: Amazon.co.uk: Heseltine, Michael: 9780340739167: Books. ASIN 0340739169.
  4. "Wrong numbers".
  5. "No. 53741". The London Gazette. 22 July 1994. p. 10497.
  6. "No. 57340". The London Gazette. 29 June 2004. p. 8083.
  7. "Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh: Honorary Graduates". www1.hw.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 18 April 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  8. Vallance
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded byThe Lord Broers Gentlemen
Baron Vallance of Tummel 		Followed byThe Lord Young of Norwood Green
Business positions
Preceded bySir George Jefferson Chairman of BT
1987–2001 		Succeeded bySir Christopher Bland
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