- John Leighfield
John P. Leighfield CBE, British IT industry businessman, Chairman of
RM plc .John Leighfield was born in
Oxford ,England , and was a pupil atMagdalen College School . He then readGreats at Exeter College, Oxford.Leighfield has pursued a career in IT, initially in the 1960s with the
Ford Motor Company ,Plessey (where he was Head of Management Services) andBritish Leyland (from the early 1970s). In 1987, he led an employee buy out of Istel Ltd, which he had established as a subsidiary of British Leyland. In 1989, the company was subsequently taken over byAT&T . He was the Executive Chairman ofAT&T Istel until April 1993.In November 1993, he joined RM (a British educational computing company) as a non-executive director and in October 1994 became the non-executive Chairman. He has been a non-executive director of a number of other companies as well, including
Halifax plc andSynstar plc (of which he is also non-executive Chairman).Leighfield was President of the
British Computer Society (1993–4) and theComputing Services and Software Association (1995–6). He is President of theInstitute for the Management of Information Systems (IMIS), a UK professional association. He has been a member of the Council ofUniversity of Warwick , Chairman of the Advisory Board, and an honorary visiting professor at theWarwick Business School . He is currentlyPro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Council.Leighfield was awarded a CBE in the 1998 Queen's Birthday Honours List, and in 2006 was awarded the
Mountbatten Medal .In 2005, he was appointed as a non-executive director of
Getmapping plc and Master of theWorshipful Company of Information Technologists .Leighfield lives in
Oxford . He was formerly Chairman of the Governors ofMagdalen College School . He is Chairman of theOxford Philomusica Advisory Council, the Resident Professional Orchestra at the University of Oxford. In his spare time, he has an interest inmaps , especially ofOxfordshire . He is married with children and grandchildren.References and external links
* [http://www.rm.com/investors/Generic.asp?cref=GP839 Research Machines Directors] short biographies
* [http://www.synstar.com/boarddir.html Synstar information]
* [http://www1.getmapping.com/about/pr/01%20Mar%202005.pdf Getmapping information]
* [http://www.bcs.org/BCS/Forums/EducationAndTraining/spmembers.htm BCS Strategic Panel Members]
* [http://www.intellectuk.org/about/board/john_leighfield.asp Intellect UK information]
* [http://virtualsociety.sbs.ox.ac.uk/people/leighfie.htm Virtual Society biography] , 1998
* [http://www.bcsoxon.org/webcomp/photos_5.htm BCS Oxfordshire Branch photograph]
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