John B. H. Jackson

Biographical Information
"Mr. John B. H. Jackson serves as the Chairman of Oxford Technology VCT plc. Mr. Jackson serves as a Director of Opendemocracy, Chairman of Active Citizens Transform, and is also a Trustee of One World Action. He is particularly interested in high technology business start-ups. Mr. Jackson worked with Philips Electrical Limited from 1952 to 1980, becoming a Director of Philips Electronics in 1966, where he served until early 1994. Since 1980, Mr. Jackson has joined the Boards of a number of other companies in a wide range of industries including electronics, engineering, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and fine chemicals. He was the Chairman of Hilton Group from 1994-2001, Deputy Chairman of BHP Billiton from its creation as a dual listed company until November 2002, from where Mr. Jackson retired as the Chairman of Celltech Group plc and Wyndeham Group plc in 2003. He serves as Member of Advisory Board at WPP plc. In the autumn of 2004, he retired as a Director of WPP Group plc whilst continuing as a Member of its Advisory Board. Mr. Jackson was a Special Advisor to the Korda Seed Capital Fund since March 1989. In April 1992, he became the Non-Solicitor Chairman of Mishcon de Reya. Mr. Jackson has had extensive experience of the television broadcasting industry (terrestrial, cable, and satellite) and his private business activities include the popular history magazine, History Today, the ‘rescue’ of which he helped to organize in 1981 and of which Mr. Jackson is one of three owners. In 1978, he made an extensive collection of the seed of wild alpine plants on the Annapurna himal. Mr. Jackson chaired the committee, which produced the Changing Work report published by the Fabian Society in 1996. He is also an author having written a book on rural self-sufficiency entitled ‘A Little Piece of England’. Mr. Jackson is also a Barrister at Law from Inner Temple. He holds a B.A. in Law from Queens College and got educated at The Kings School, Canterbury."

John Jackson's first book, A Bucket of Nuts and a Herring Net was published in 1979 (Collins and Harvill Press). It was an account of family life on a small-holding in rural Kent, and of self-sufficiency. The book was reprinted with a new introduction and an end piece in 2000, as A Little Piece of England: A Tale of Self-Sufficiency by Merlin Unwin Books.[9] Jackson’s independent publishing venture JJ Books was launched in 2011. wiki

"In the 1990’s he helped to create the Countryside Alliance which, under his chairmanship, campaigned vigorously for liberty and livelihood in the countryside. During that period also, he chaired a working party of employers, trade unionists, academics and journalists studying the impact of new technologies, particularly web-based technologies, on the workplace. Their report was published in 1996 by the Fabian Society as ‘Changing Work’. At that time he also became a trustee of One World Action, a charity which campaigns and works for the rights of women, particularly in developing countries. In 2001 he became one of the first directors of the global web based publication openDemocracy." 

Affiliations

 * Former Non-executive Director, BHP Billiton Limited
 * Former Chairman, Ladbrokes PLC
 * Former Chairman, Wyndeham Press Group Limited
 * 2008-Present, Chairman, Instore plc
 * Unlock Democracy
 * Former Chair, Countryside Alliance

Related Sourcewatch

 * Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini