Sir Peter Gershon

Portrait
Sir Peter Gershon, Strategic Adviser

Sir Peter worked in the computer, telecommunications and defence industries for over thirty years, holding senior executive positions. In 1994 he was appointed to the main board of GEC plc. He joined the Civil Service in 2000 to become the first chief executive of the Office of Government Commerce. Between 2003 and 2004, Sir Peter led a review of the efficiency in the UK public sector (the "Gershon Efficiency Review") which subsequently led to improvements in savings and efficiency of public services. Since 2004, Sir Peter has undertaken non-executive chairman roles in various sectors including mobile phones software, healthcare, outsourcing and distribution of electronic components. Sir Peter has also led a further two independent reviews; in 2006 for the UK Government on Ministerial & Royal Air Travel and in 2008 for the Australian Government for its use of ICT.


Sir Peter graduated with a Mathematics degree from Cambridge University. Sir Peter was awarded the CBE in 2000 for services to the defence industry and was knighted in 2004 for his work on public procurement. In 2001 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and in 2016 he won the FTSE100 Non-Executive Director of the year award. Sir Peter is a fellow of a number of bodies, including the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institution of Engineering and Technology and the British Computer Society. He is also chairman of Join Dementia Research, a trustee of The Sutton Trust and Education Endowment Foundation and sits on the Board of The Investor Forum.

Sir Peter is a British businessman, former civil servant and former chairman of Tate & Lyle (2009-2017), the Aircraft Carrier Alliance (2014-2019) and National Grid (2012-2021, having served as deputy chairman in 2011). He is currently chairman of the Dreadnought Alliance and enfinium Limited.