Cento Veljanovski
Dr Cento Gavril Veljanovski (born 19 February 1953) is a neoliberal economist and business consultant closley affiliated to the seminal free market think-tank the Institute of Economic Affairs.
Biography
Veljanovski was born on 19 February 1953, the son of Gavril Veljanovski and Margaret née Wagenaar. He studied a degree and a masters in economics at Monash University and then a PhD at Oxford. [1] He was a junior resident fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford from 1978 to 1984 during which time he was also a visiting professor at the Univiversity of Toronto (1980-1981). In 1984 he joined University College London (UCL) as a lecturer. [2] He left UCL in 1987 to joined the neoliberal think-tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, where he was research and editorial director until 1991. [3]
In 1990 it was reported in the Guardian and The Times that Veljanovski was being employed as a consultant to the BBC. [4]
In 1991 Veljanovski authored a report called 'The Media in Britain Today' published by Rupert Murdoch's News International. The report, which also included a foreword by Alan Peacock, 'where there are 50 or more television channels, many with small audiences, the fact that a newspaper proprietor has a controlling interest in several satellite channels does not pose a real threat to diversity or to competition'. [5]
Financial consultant
In the 1990s Veljanovski moved into the business world. In 1990 he was reported to be a director of the Putnam, Hayes and Bartlett consultancy. [6] That year he also joined the economic consultancy firm Lexecon in 1990. According to his biography on Debrett's People of Today, he remained with the Institute of Economic Affairs for a year whilst serving as a director of Lexecon. He left Lexecon in 1994. By which time he had joined the board of the cable television programmer Flextech. He was a director of Flextech from 1993 to 1995. [7]
Flextech started life as an oil services company. It first moved into media in 1989 when it purchased a stake in the cable television broadcaster The Children's Channel during a restructuring of the company. Another shareholder in The Children's Channel was the US cable TV company TeleCommunications Inc, which in December 1993 bought a 60 per cent stake in Flextech and put the company in control of UK cable channels. [8] Flextech subsequently entered into a 50 per cent joint venture with BBC Worldwide called UKTV. It was subsequently merged with Telewest and then Virgin Media.
In 1996 Veljanovski founded the 'competition consultancy' Case Associates.
Affiliations
Notes
- ↑ Debrett's People of Today (Debrett's Peerage Ltd, January 2009) [Accessed via KnowUK on 15 October 2009]
- ↑ Debrett's People of Today, Dr Cento Veljanovski [Accessed 15 October 2009]
- ↑ Debrett's People of Today, Dr Cento Veljanovski [Accessed 15 October 2009]
- ↑ Georgina Henry, 'BBC defends job for Mandelson', Guardian, 3 October 1990; Melinda Wittstock, 'BBC defends Labour choice', The Times, 3 October 1990
- ↑ cited in Richard Evans, 'Cross-ownership of media 'no threat to competition', The Times, 18 January 1990
- ↑ 'Cable forecasts "should be lower"', New Media Markets, 8 November 1990
- ↑ Debrett's People of Today, Dr Cento Veljanovski [Accessed 15 October 2009]
- ↑ Jeff Ferry, 'Flextech's profitless prosperity', Director, August 1994; p.28
- ↑ Debrett's People of Today (Debrett's Peerage Ltd, January 2009) [Accessed via KnowUK on 15 October 2009]
