Sir Victor Blank

Born on 9 November 1942, he was educated at Stockport Grammar School and then obtained an MA in Modern History at St Catherine's College, Oxford.

In 1969, aged 26, Blank was made the youngest Partner in the history of legal firm Clifford-Turner (now Clifford Chance). At Clifford-Turner he specialised in corporate law, and co-wrote a textbook on mergers titled Weinberg & Blank on Take-overs and Mergers. He left Clifford Turner in 1981 to become Head of Corporate Finance at Charterhouse Bank (now part of HSBC), where he masterminded the buyout of Woolworth's. From 1985 to 1996 he held the posts of chairman and Chief Executive of Charterhouse. He was also a director of the Royal Bank of Scotland from 1985 to 1993.

In 1999, Blank was appointed Chairman of Mirror Group Newspapers which, during his tenure, became the UK's largest newspaper publishing group as part of the Trinity Mirror conglomerate.

From 1993 to 2006, he was Vice Chairman and then Chairman of Great Universal Stores plc, a conglomerate in the FTSE 100, which was separated into four different companies (Experian, Argos & Homebase, Burberry and Lewis Stores), the shares of which were distributed to shareholders. He was made Chairman of GUS in 2000.

He was knighted in 1999 for services to the financial industry. In May 2006, Blank became Chairman of Lloyds TSB which, in 2008, took over Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) to become the U.K.'s largest retail bank. He was a member of the Financial Reporting Council from 2002 to 2007, and a member of the Council of Oxford University from 2000 to 2007. He was appointed a senior adviser to US private equity group TPG Capital in November 2007. From 2000 to 2006 Blank was also Chairman of the Industrial Development Advisory Board.

In 2010, Blank was appointed as a UK Business Ambassador by the government to promote British commercial interests around the world. After the election in 2010 Blank was invited to continue as a Business Ambassador by Prime Minister David Cameron.

Blank and former Lloyds TSB chief executive Eric Daniels, have both been recipients of letters from Lloyd's shareholders who are members of the Lloyds Action Now Association. The letters represent a campaign on behalf of 7,000 private shareholders claiming compensation for their losses arising from the HBOS takeover. They stipulate that, information concerning a £25.4 billion Emergency Liquidity Assistance loan from the Bank of England to HBOS, which was made to keep it afloat before the takeover, was not declared in takeover offer documents on which they were asked to vote. They stipulate that, had this loan been declared, then the true financial state of the bank would have been made apparent.

Blank is Jewish, married and has three children.

Blank is involved with the following not-for-profit organisations:

Blank is the patron of numerous charities, social enterprises and not for profit organisations. He is chairman of the Wellbeing of Women charity which funds research into female health. He has a personal connection to the charity after he lost his mother to ovarian cancer when he was 12 years old. One of his most high-profile donations comes from the money raised at his annual cricket match. Every year Blank hosts a cricket match inside his manor house and invites a large number of luminaries and famous cricketers and charges people to play. The match has raised more than £5.5 million for charity over a 24-year running period. It is estimated that one day's cricket raises £250,000 for charity.

Blank has called out to the city and especially the bankers to do more to promote their engagement in local philanthropies to try to improve their image.

He is also the chairman of various establishments including: The Social Mobility Foundation, UJS Hillel, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' health research charity, the Council of University College School and the European Advisory Board of the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business.

Chairman of the Social Mobility Foundation

Chairman of UJS Hillel.

Chairman of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' health research charity, as well as an Honorary Fellow and a Patron of the Royal College

Chairman of the Council of University College School

Honorary Fellow of St Catherine's College, Oxford

Trustee of the Said Business School Foundation

Vice President of Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra

Chairman of the European Advisory board of the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business

Member of the advisory board of the British Olympic Association

Vice President of the Jewish Leadership Council.

Member of the Financial Reporting Council and CBI Boardroom Issues Group.