- Conference Speakers
Topics:
- International
- Leadership
Digby Jones
Director-General of the CBI, Digby Jones was born in Birmingham in October 1955, he won a major scholarship to Bromsgrove School and read law at University College, London.
Early Career
After the Royal Navy, he started his career with Birmingham corporate law firm Edge & Ellison in 1978, becoming a partner in 1984. Specialising in corporate finance and client development, he was responsible for developing the firm's London presence and for establishing its presence in Europe and the USA. In 1998 he joined KPMG as Vice Chairman of Corporate Finance where he acted as adviser to many UK public companies. He also worked on the development of KPMG's global markets to ensure consistency of service levels and quality of approach towards major global clients.
Director-General CBI
He became Director-General of the CBI on 1 January 2000 originally for a five year non-renewable term of office. In September 2003 this was extended at the request of CBI members to seven years; his term ended on 31 December 2006. As the Chief Executive of the UK's "Voice of Business", he regularly visits businesses around the UK and also the CBI offices in Brussels and Washington DC, reporting their views back to Government, business leaders and opinion formers. He appears regularly on television and radio and in the newspapers, promoting the interests of wealth and job creation in the UK, the rest of Europe and beyond.
Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Sir Digby sits on the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Development Trust and is a Director of the Orchestra of the Swan in Stratford-upon-Avon. In 1998, as Chairman of the Birmingham St Mary's Hospice Appeal, which raised £1.5 million, he personally raised £218,000 towards their target by cycling from John O'Groats to Lands End.
He is a Patron of the Why My Child Appeal, Vice President of Birmingham Hospice and the Royal British Legion. He is also a Freeman of the City of London.
