Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI)

Richard Haythornthwaite has over 25 years of international industry experience, holding senior positions in a wide range of organisations including BP and Premier Oil. More recently he was Chief Executive of Blue Circle Industries plc and of Invensys Plc.

He is a Managing Director of Star Capital Partners, Non-Executive Chairman of Mastercard, Inc, and the Almeida Theatre Company Limited and a Board Member of the British Council and the National Museum of Science & Industry. Aged 50.

A graduate of The Queen’s College, Oxford with a degree in Geology and a Sloan Fellow of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Richard Haythornthwaite has over 25 years of international industry experience covering a broad mix of strategic and operational roles.

He has extensive experience in organisational and cultural change leadership, cost reduction programmes, results-driven performance initiatives and negotiating and executing acquisitions and divestments worldwide.

Richard Haythornthwaite’s career began with BP plc where he held a variety of positions in its European and American operations from 1978 to 1995, including General Manager of the Magnus Oilfield and President of BP Venezuela.

In 1995 he joined the Board of Premier Oil, where he was responsible for corporate and commercial affairs, and two years later joined Blue Circle Industries plc as Chief Executive of Heavy Building Materials in Europe and Asia. He was appointed Group Chief Executive of Blue Circle in 1999. Following its acquisition of Blue Circle in 2001, he became a Non-Executive Director of Lafarge S.A., standing down from that Board in July 2003. From 1999 to 2003 he was a Non-Executive Director of Cookson Group plc. In addition, from 2001 until 2005, Richard Haythornthwaite was Group Chief Executive Officer of Invensys plc.

He is currently Managing Director of Star Capital Partners, Non-Executive Chairman of Mastercard, Inc., Chairman of the Better Regulation Commission, Chairman of the Almeida Theatre Company Limited and a Board Member of the British Council, The National Museum of Science & Industry and a Director of Otus Associates Limited. Aged 50.