Peter Holmes

Sir Peter Holmes (died in 2002)

Served Shell in Dubai, Libya and Nigeria.

Chair of Shell

As chairman - he was only 52 when appointed - Holmes looked thoroughly in command in his corporate suite at the top of the Shell tower, relaxed and immaculate. But he still seemed to have come from an open-air world, detached from his more conventional colleagues, as if he had climbed up the building with crampons.^[1]

Hakluyt

When he retired in 1993, he avoided taking up orthodox company directorships, but enjoyed becoming president of the Hakluyt Foundation, a discreet new outfit that provided intelligence for big corporations.^[2]

Co-opting the ANC

'helped to fund a training scheme to prepare ANC executives for government... Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990, and subsequently thanked him for Shell's help.'^[3]

Notes

1. ^ Anthony Sampson 'Sir Peter Holmes Improbable, buccaneering chairman of Shell oil'The Guardian, Friday March 15, 2002
2. ^ Anthony Sampson 'Sir Peter Holmes Improbable, buccaneering chairman of Shell oil'The Guardian, Friday March 15, 2002
3. ^ Anthony Sampson 'Sir Peter Holmes Improbable, buccaneering chairman of Shell oil'The Guardian, Friday March 15, 2002