Richard Lambert

Richard Lambert is an advisory board member of the Centre for European Reform which has acted as a gateway into Europe for several neoconservative figures such as its 2003, October 30, Public debate on transatlantic relations with Carl Bildt, François Heisbourg, William Kristol and Jim Steinberg, in London; and the 30-31 October: 8th Meeting of CER/Brookings US-European Forum on ‘World order and global issues’ where speakers included John Bolton.The CER's Daniel Keohane also has connections with The Henry Jackson Society.

Lambert has been Director General of the Confederation of British Industry CBI since 2006. Here he replaced Sir Digby Jones as head of the CBI business group. He relinquished his post, as it could lead to a "conflict of interest" as (the only non-economist) member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee from 2003-2006 (an external member of the Bank of England's rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee).BBC Business editor Robert Peston said Lambert's appointment had a "wonderful circularity [...] Richard Lambert started his career as a companies reporter on the Financial Times [...] Now he's the spokesman for Britain's biggest businesses [...] He combines a formidable intellect with great charm."

Lambert is former editor of The Financial Times, a post he held for 10 years until 2001. Having studied history at Balliol College, Oxford, Lambert joined the Financial Times in 1966. He edited the Lex column in the 1970s, becoming financial editor in 1979. In 1982 he moved to New York as the Bureau Chief, returning to the UK a year later as Deputy Editor. He became Editor of the Financial Times in 1991 and during his 10 years in this role launched the US version of the newspaper.

Lambert is Chair of the Retail Financial Services Group an organisation set up at the instigation of the Treasury Select Committee to improve relationships between savings companies and consumer groups, and also chairs the Advisory Board of a Research Council-funded project studying knowledge transfer. He chaired the Lambert Review on the relationship between higher education and business.

He is a Trustee of the British Museum, and a member of both the UK-India Roundtable and the Franco-British Colloque, a high-level group of industrialists and politicians from the two countries.

Lambert is also a Board Member of Business in the Community, and received The Prince of Wales’ Ambassador Award for his work for BITC.

In 2002 he spent a semester at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and was subsequently asked by the Chancellor to write the Lambert Review of Business-University Collaboration.

He became a non-executive director of Euronext-Liffe and Axa Investment Management and was then asked by the UK Department of Culture, Media and Sport to write a report on BBC News 24. He also undertook a short fellowship at Harvard University, in the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy (where he is now on the advisory board), investigating the way non-governmental organisations and the media have influenced public policy.

He was made Chancellor of the University of Warwick from 1 August 2008.A Board Member of Enterprise Insight and VisitBritain, and sits as a member of the Chancellor’s High Level City Group; the National Council for Educational Excellence; the Apprenticeship Ambassadors Network and the Employers Forum on Disability. He is a Commissioner of the UK Commission on Employment and Skills.

Transatlantic Council

Lambert is a member of the International Advisory Board of British American Business (also given as The BritishAmerican Business Transatlantic Council). This states that:

The BritishAmerican Business Transatlantic Council consists of a select group of member companies that have established a leadership position in the transatlantic business community. Transatlantic Council members receive special attention and recognition from BritishAmerican Business, and can take advantage of additional benefits and services that are offered exclusively to Transatlantic Council Members.

The International Advisory Board has Sir Martin Sorrell (Group Chief Executive WPP) as Chairman; with others including: Sir Terry Leahy (Chief Executive Tesco), Lionel Barber (Editor Financial Times), Sir Andrew Crockett (President, JP Morgan Chase International), The Hon Philip Lader (Senior Advisor Morgan Stanley International), Sir David Manning GCMG, CVO, Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge, Sir Tom McKillop (Chairman Royal Bank of Scotland), Sir Christopher Meyer KCMG, Lakshmi Mittal (President and CEO Arcelor Mittal), James Murdoch (Chairman and Chief Executive, Europe and Asia, News Corporation), Richard L Olver (Chairman BAE Systems plc), Robert J. Stevens (Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Lockheed Martin Corporation), Peter D. Sutherland KCMG (Chairman BP & Goldman Sachs International), Paul Walsh (CEO Diageo) and many other key figures in the Atlanticist business network.

BritishAmerican Business states that it is a member of, and provides the Secretariat for, the British-American Business Council, the largest transatlantic business organization with over 30 chapters and 3,500 member companies throughout North America and the UK.