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Damon Buffini

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Sir
Damon Buffini
Born
Damon Marcus Buffini

May 1962 (age 62)[1]
Leicester, England
Education
OccupationBusinessman
Employers
Spouse(s)Deborah Chao, Lady Buffini[2]
Children3

Sir Damon Marcus Buffini (born May 1962)[1] is a British businessman, deputy chair of the BBC Board and chair of the BBC Commercial Board.[3] He was formerly head of the private equity company Permira[4][5] and governor of the Wellcome Trust.[6]

Education and early life

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Born in Leicester in 1962,[1] the son of an African-American serviceman and a British woman, he was educated in Leicester and graduated with a degree in law from St John's College, Cambridge, and has an MBA from Harvard Business School.[4]

Career

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Buffini worked for L.E.K. Consulting, and under the firm's scholarship scheme undertook an MBA from Harvard Business School.[4] On return to the UK he joined Imperial Group working as a management consultant, before being recruited by Jon Moulton (now[when?] head of rival firm Better Capital), in 1988 to join Schroders leveraged buyout team, known then as Schroder Ventures Europe.[7]

Buffini became a partner in 1992, and was promoted to managing partner of the UK business in 1999, and managing partner in 2000, just before he led a management buyout group and renamed the firm Permira.[4] Buffini took home £3.2 million plus bonuses in 2004.[4]

In November 2021 he was appointed as a non-executive director of the BBC Board, effective from 1 January 2022, and subsequently also as chair of the BBC's commercial board.[3] In December 2022 the BBC Board created the honorary title of deputy chair to be held ex-officio by the chair of the BBC commercial board,[8] with Buffini assuming the title on 9 December 2022.[9]

Other

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Buffini was also a non-executive board member of SVG Capital plc[1] and chairman and co-founder of the Social Business Trust.

Buffini established The Buffini Chao Foundation with his wife, Lady Deborah Buffini, in 2005.[10]

He is a main board member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and a trustee of the Royal Anniversary Trust, which administers The Queen's Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education.[when?]

In September 2012 Buffini was appointed to the board of governors at The Wellcome Trust.[6]

In July 2020, the UK Government announced Buffini as chair of the Culture Recovery Board, an administrative body tasked with managing the £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund intended to protect UK arts and heritage assets during the COVID-19 crisis.[11]

Buffini was appointed Chair of the Royal National Theatre in 2016.

Recognition

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Buffini was ranked first in the men's Top 10 of the 2007 Powerlist, a publication ranking the most influential Black Britons.[12] Buffini's influence has also been recognised in Business, having ranked number three by the Times Power 100 for people who hold sway over British Business.[13] Boasting power and influence, together with a personal fortune of between £100m and £200m. Buffini was appointed to then Prime Minister Gordon Brown's business advisory panel.[14]

Buffini was knighted in the 2016 Birthday Honours for voluntary and charitable services.[15]

Personal life

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Married to a solicitor, Deborah (née Chao), the couple have three children and a family home in Weybridge[16] and a city flat in Wandsworth.

Buffini plays tennis and golf, football for a local amateur side, and supports Arsenal.[17]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Damon Marcus BUFFINI". London: Government of the United Kingdom. Archived from the original on 24 March 2016.
  2. ^ Profile: Lady Buffini, ballet.org.uk. Accessed 27 December 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Sir Damon Buffini - About the BBC". BBC. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Profile of Buffini at Permira". permira.com. Archived from the original on 9 July 2007.
  5. ^ "The Times & The Sunday Times". thetimes.co.uk. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  6. ^ a b "Board of Governors". wellcome.ac.uk. London: Wellcome Trust. 2016. Archived from the original on 22 June 2016.
  7. ^ Griffiths, Ian (6 November 2004). "Permira boss takes home £3.2m - and no surprise as spotlight falls on Buffini". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 February 2019 – via www.theguardian.com.
  8. ^ "Meeting of the BBC Board - Minutes - 8 December 2022" (PDF). BBC. p. 6. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  9. ^ "Sir Damon Buffini named Deputy Chair of BBC Board, Gary Newman, Ian Griffiths, Claire Hungate to join BBC Commercial Board" (Press release). BBC. 9 December 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  10. ^ "Supporting the future". Buffini Chao Foundation. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  11. ^ "Dowden: 'Jump-start' for UK's leading creative industries". GOV.UK. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  12. ^ "The real black power list of 100 leading role models". The Guardian. 26 August 2007. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  13. ^ Inventive and dynamic risk-takers who changed the face of Britain – Times Online (subscription required)
  14. ^ Eboda, Michael (26 August 2007). "The real black power list of 100 leading role models". theguardian.com. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
  15. ^ "No. 61608". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 2016. p. B2.
  16. ^ Invisible man forced into view by his golden touch Times Online (subscription required)
  17. ^ Jill Treanor (2007). "Profile: Damon Buffini, The football fan who calls the shots". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 18 March 2016.
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