Luke Johnson has been Chairman of Channel 4 Television Corporation since 2004 and Risk Capital Partners, a private equity firm, since 2001. He is Chairman/owner of the restaurant business Giraffe and Patisserie Valerie/Druckers, a chain of over 50 retail patisseries. As Chairman and majority shareholder of Signature Restaurants he built up the Strada restaurant chain and owned various classic restaurants including The Ivy, Le Caprice and J Sheekey. Previously (1993 to 1998) he was Chairman of PizzaExpress PLC and worked as a stockbroking analyst for Kleinworts (1985 to 1988). He wrote a business column in The Sunday Telegraph between 1998 and 2006, and now writes a weekly essay in The Financial Times. He served as a Governor of The University of The Arts London for six years until 2006 and became the Chair of The Royal Society of Arts in 2009. He graduated in medicine from Magdalen College, Oxford (1980 to 1983). |
"The Battle of Ideas is adrenaline for the mind. A chance for intellectual fisticuffs with some of the best-known and most stimulating thinkers in the world."
Colin Blakemore, professor of neuroscience, Oxford University