Peter Davis

Davis was born in Cheshire on 23 December 1941, the son of John Stephen Davis and Adriaantje de Baat. He was educated at Shrewsbury School. Peter Davis worked for a company called the Ditchburn Organisation, Dock Road, Lytham, Lancashire, U.K. circa 1960/61.

Ditchburns had two sides, one side being Ditchburn Music Maker, which manufactured and sold Juke Boxes and the other side being Ditchburn Vending Machines, which manufactured and sold Hot and Cold drink vending machines. Davis worked for the sales and marketing side of Ditchburn Vending Machines.

Davis worked for Sainsbury from 1976 to 1986 as marketing director and then assistant managing director. Between 1986 and 1994 he was chief executive and chairman of the publishing business Reed International and was involved in the merger with the Dutch scientific publisher Elsevier.

He was chief executive of Prudential plc from 1995 having joined the company as a non-executive director. During this period, the company was condemned by the Treasury for mis-selling more pensions than any other firm. The Securities and Investments Board ordered the firm to retrain its entire sales staff, due to 'continuing and persistent breaches' of the standards of training for the sales force.