John Manzoni

Sir John Alexander Manzoni KCB (born 1960) is a British senior civil servant and business executive, who served as chief executive of the civil service and the Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary from 2014 to 2020.[1]

Sir John Manzoni KCB
Manzoni in 2017
Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary
In office August 2015 – 9 April 2020
Cabinet Sec.	Jeremy Heywood Mark Sedwill
Minister	Matt Hancock Ben Gummer Damian Green David Lidington Oliver Dowden
Preceded by	Richard Heaton
Succeeded by	Alex Chisholm
Chief Executive of the Civil Service
In office 13 October 2014 – 9 April 2020
Head	Jeremy Heywood Mark Sedwill
Minister	David Cameron Theresa May Boris Johnson
Preceded by	Bob Kerslake
Succeeded by	Alex Chisholm
Chief Executive of the Major Projects Authority
In office February 2014 – 13 October 2014
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	David Blackall
Personal details
Born	1960 (age 60–61)
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Imperial College London Stanford University
Occupation	British businessperson and civil servant

Early life and education

Manzoni studied civil engineering as an undergraduate and a Masters degree in petroleum engineering at Imperial College London. He later studied for a Masters degree in management as a Sloan Fellow at Stanford University in 1994. He also has a Master of Business Administration degree.[2]

Business career

Manzoni started to work for the oil and gas company BP in 1983.[2] In 2000, he was a group vice president at the company.[3] He was chief executive for refining and marketing at BP at the time of the Texas City Refinery explosion in 2005, in which 15 people were killed and 170 injured.[4] An internal BP investigation cleared him of "serious neglect or intentional misconduct" but said he should have taken more steps to consider and mitigate the risks long before the disaster occurred, and criticised several aspects of his conduct.[5] The company was fined $21m (£13m) for breaching safety rules.[6]

In 2007, a month after the BP report was made public, Manzoni left BP to become the president and chief executive officer of Talisman Energy, an oil and gas exploration and production company.[2][7][8] He replaced James Buckee, who had headed the company for 14 years.[9] In his last year working at BP, Manzoni earned a salary of £758,000.[2] During his time at Talisman the company focused on shale gas, selling a non-controlling stake in its North Sea business to Sinopec in July 2012.[10] Manzoni resigned from Talisman and was replaced by Hal Kvisle in September 2012.[11] In July 2015, the United States Environmental Protection Agency reported that it had fined Talisman Energy $62,457 for more than fifty health and safety violations at sites in Pennsylvania.[6][12]

Civil service career

In February 2014, Manzoni joined the British civil service as the chief executive of the Major Projects Authority, a role under the remit of the Cabinet Office.[13] His former BP boss John Browne, who had also left BP in 2007 sat on Manzoni's appointment panel but did not chair it.[14]

Whilst in this role, Manzoni also served as a director for the brewing and beverage company SABMiller, chair of the energy company Leyshon Energy and an adviser to the venture capital company Adamant Ventures.[15]

On 13 October 2014, Manzoni was appointed as the first chief executive of the civil service, after the position was split out from that of the Head of the Home Civil Service when Bob Kerslake retired.[16] A number of business figures who had been approached for the role were reported to have turned it down,[17] with one commenting that the job was "un-doable", and the Financial Times reported that the government had drawn up a "plan B" to appoint Manzoni.[18] His appointment was criticised by the Green Party Member of Parliament (MP) Caroline Lucas.[19]

As chief executive of the civil service, Manzoni resigned from his positions at Leyshon Energy and Adamant Ventures but continued to serve as a director for SABMiller, for which he was criticised by MPs including Sarah Wollaston, then a Conservative MP serving as chair of the health select committee, as a conflict of interest given SABMiller's opposition to minimum alcohol pricing. An open letter from medical professionals and charities argued that the director role was incompatible with his civil service role.[20] The Cabinet Office said that it was satisfied that there was no conflict of interest, before later announcing that Manzoni would resign from his position as director in 2015.[14]

In 2015, Manzoni told a conference of the FDA trade union that civil service roles didn't need as much pay as they were more interesting than the private sector.[21] In the role, he advocated a "functional" model of government aimed at developing skills across different government departments.[22]

Manzoni's position of chief executive was initially a five-year appointment, but was extended until April 2020 for continuity with changes in government following the 2019 United Kingdom general election.[22] He was succeeded by Alex Chisholm, who took the title of chief operating officer of the Civil Service.[23]

Later career

Manzoni was appointed to join the board of the alcohol company Diageo in 2020, with his term starting in October.[24][25]

Manzoni was appointed Chair-Designate for the newly renationalised Atomic Weapons Establishment in November 2020: he will take up the post on 1 July 2021.[26]

Honours

Manzoni was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2020 New Year Honours for public service.[27]

References

1. "New Permanent Secretary for Cabinet Office announced: John Manzoni – Press releases – Government of the United Kingdom". Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
2. Dudman, Jane (3 October 2014). "Who is new civil service chief executive John Manzoni?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
3. Maguire, Kevin (14 September 2000). "Key Players: The oil men at No 10". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
4. "SAB.ZA Company Profile & Executives – SABMiller PLC – Wall Street Journal". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
5. "Former BP man secures role as Whitehall's first chief executive". Financial Times. 2 October 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
6. "Ex-BP oil disaster and fracking executive to lead big government projects". The Guardian. 3 February 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
7. "John Manzoni – Incoming President and CEO, Talisman Energy Inc" (PDF). Talisman Energy. 2007. Archived from the original (pdf) on 6 July 2015. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
8. "BP's Texas City blast boss quits with year's pay". the Guardian. 30 May 2007. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
9. "Globe & Mail: Jim Buckee: Talisman's retired contrarian picks his next fight". Royal Dutch Shell plc .com. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
10. "Talisman announces North Sea stake sale to Sinopec of $1.5bn – BBC News". Retrieved 5 July 2015.
11. Mason, Rowena (3 February 2014). "Ex-BP oil disaster and fracking executive to lead big government projects". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
12. "Talisman Energy to pay $62,000 penalty for violations at 52 natural gas facilities in Pa". 25 July 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
13. "Former BP executive Manzoni gets top Whitehall job". BBC News. 3 October 2014. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
14. "New civil service chief must resign from second job, says health committee chair". The Guardian. 13 October 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
15. Mason, Rowena; Neate, Rupert (10 October 2014). "Civil service boss John Manzoni to keep his brewery directorship". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
16. "Chief executive for civil service appointed – Press releases – Government of the United Kingdom". Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
17. Neville, Sarah; Rigby, Elizabeth (14 September 2014). "Sir Ian Cheshire rejects offer of top Whitehall job". Financial Times. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
18. "UK business chiefs turn down new Whitehall post". Financial Times. 18 August 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
19. Mason, Rowena; Dudman, Jane (2 October 2014). "Government accused of big business love-in over Manzoni Whitehall job". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
20. Mason, Rowena; Campbell, Denis (29 October 2014). "Civil service chief under fire for keeping job at drink manufacturer". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
21. Dudman, Jane (14 May 2015). "Civil service head sets out a change of direction for Whitehall". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
22. "John Manzoni to depart as civil service chief | Civil Service World". www.civilserviceworld.com. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
23. "Sir John Manzoni steps down as UK civil service chief exec but will stay on in advisory role". Global Government Forum. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
24. "Pandemic proves opportunity for industry power grab". The Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
25. Checkout. "Diageo Names Sir John Manzoni As Non-Executive Director". Checkout. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
26. "Sir John Manzoni announced as Chair Designate for AWE plc NDPB Board". GOV.UK. Ministry of Defence. 19 November 2020.
27. "No. 62866". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 December 2019. p. N3.

External links

• John Manzoni's page on gov.uk
• John Manzon's page on Bloomberg.com