Sir Gerry Robinson

Biographical Details
In 1998 Gerry Robinson, the Labour-supporting chairman of Granada, was appointed new Arts Council chairman, succeeding former Tory minister Lord Gowrie. At the time Mr Robinson, was also chairman of BSkyB, and had "campaigned for Labour during the last general election." In 1998 he was "an active interest in the performing arts and is a council member of the English Stage Company as well as chairing the development of the Royal Court theatre in Chelsea, south-west London."

"In the past three decades, Sir Gerry Robinson is credited with converting Coca-Cola UK’s £7m loss into a £17m profit in two years; leading in 1987 the biggest management buyout ever seen by creating Compass out of Grand Metropolitan; and in one year stemming Granada’s losses to post returns that were 10% higher than market expectations.

"Sir Gerry Robinson has been Chairman of Allied Domecq PLC, Granada, The Arts Council of England, British Sky Broadcasting Group and ITN."