Victor Blank

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Sir (Maurice) Victor Blank MA FRCOG is a prominent British Businessman. Born in 1942 he was educated at Stockport Grammar School and then St. Catherine's College, at the University of Oxford.

In 1969, he was made the youngest Partner in the history of Clifford Turner (now Clifford Chance). Sir Victor left Clifford Turner in 1981 to become Head of Corporate Finance at Charterhouse Corporate Finance (now part of HSBC). From 1985-1996 Sir Victor held the posts of Chairman and Chief Executive of Charterhouse.

Since retiring from Charterhouse, Sir Victor has held a number of Chairmanships of FTSE 100 companies such as Trinity Mirror plc and GUS plc. Sir Victor is also Chairman of the Industrial and Development Advisory Board. Sir Victor is currently Chairman of Lloyds TSB Group plc. He was knighted in 1999.

Sir Victor is involved with of the following not for profit organisations:

He is Chairman of The charity "Wellbeing".
He is the Chairman of UJS Hillel
Chairman of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' health research charity, as well as an Honorary Fellow and a Patron of the Royal College.
Chairman of the Council of University College School.
He is a Member of Council, advisor to the Environmental Change Unit and Chairman of the Development Programme Advisory Board of the University of Oxford.
He is an Honorary Fellow of St. Catherine's College, Oxford.
A member of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
He is also a member of the Financial Reporting Council and the CBI Boardroom Issues Group.

Oxford Controversy

In 2006 Blank received an apology from Roger Ainsworth, Master of St. Catherine's College, Oxford, in response to a letter from the libel specialists Carter-Ruck requesting a withdrawal by Ainsworth of an allegation, and an apology. No damages or costs were claimed. Ainsworth had made allegations against Blank in relation to discussions over the proportion of Oxford University's funding that should be passed on to colleges.

In the immediate aftermath of the Carter-Ruck letter, Ainsworth made a statement to the Heads of Colleges and Bursars who attended the meeting of the Conference of Colleges in which he withdrew his remarks and apologised. Some members of the University saw the use of letters from libel specialists as an inappropriate way of resolving differences between colleagues.

In the summer of 2007 Blank was at the centre of a disagreement between members of the Council of the University of Oxford and members of the Congregation of the University, over the propriety of re-electing lay members of Council for extended periods. He subsequently announced that he would not be seeking re-election, a move arguably connected to a call by nearly 250 members of the University's Congregation for the re-election proposal to be debated.

References

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Last updated on Monday November 12, 2007 at 11:22:36 PST (GMT -0800)
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