Sir John Alexander Manzoni (born 1960) is a British senior civil servant and business executive, who served as
chief executive
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization.
CEOs find roles in variou ...
of the
civil service
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...
and the
Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary
The Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Cabinet Office, known informally as the Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary, is the second-most senior civil servant of the Cabinet Office. It was conventionally joined with the positions of Cabinet Se ...
from 2014 to 2020.
Early life and education
Manzoni studied civil engineering as an undergraduate and a Master's degree in
petroleum engineering
Petroleum engineering is a field of engineering concerned with the activities related to the production of hydrocarbons, which can be either crude oil or natural gas or both. Exploration and production are deemed to fall within the ''upstrea ...
at
Imperial College London
Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...
. He later studied for a
Master's degree in management as a Sloan Fellow at
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
in 1994. He also has a
Master of Business Administration
A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...
degree.
Business career
Manzoni started to work for the oil and gas company
BP in 1983.
In 2000, he was a group vice president at the company. He was chief executive for refining and marketing at
BP at the time of the
Texas City refinery explosion
On March 23, 2005, a hydrocarbon vapor cloud ignited and violently exploded at the isomerization process unit of the BP-owned oil refinery in Texas City, Texas. It resulted in the killing of 15 workers, 180 injuries and severe damage to the re ...
in 2005, in which 15 people were killed and 170 injured. 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. Costs of repairs and deferred production at Texas City amounted to over $1 billion.
BP pled guilty to federal
environmental crimes, for which it paid $50 million.
The company also paid at least around $2.1 billion in civil settlements.
Additionally, BP paid $84.6 million and $27 million in fines to the federal government on
OSHA
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA; ) is a regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor that originally had federal visitorial powers to inspect and examine workplaces. The United States Congress established ...
's and the
EPA's request, respectively,
and a $50 million fine to the government of Texas for environmental violations.
The disaster is the world's most expensive refinery accident.
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
Talisman Energy Inc. was a Canadian independent petroleum company that existed between 1993 and 2015. The company was created from the assets of BP Canada after British Petroleum divested its 57 percent stake in June 1992. It was one of Canada' ...
, an oil and gas exploration and production company.
He replaced James Buckee, who had headed the company for 14 years. In his last year working at BP, Manzoni earned a salary of £758,000.
During his time at Talisman the company focused on
shale gas
Shale gas is an unconventional natural gas that is found trapped within shale formations. Since the 1990s, a combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing has made large volumes of shale gas more economical to produce, and ...
, selling a non-controlling stake in its
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...
business to
Sinopec
China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, or Sinopec Group, is a Chinese oil and gas enterprise based in Chaoyang District, Beijing. The SASAC administers China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation for the benefit of State Council of the ...
in July 2012. Manzoni resigned from Talisman and was replaced by
Hal Kvisle in September 2012.
In July 2015, the
United States Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on De ...
reported that it had fined Talisman Energy $62,457 for more than fifty health and safety violations at sites in Pennsylvania.
Civil service career
In February 2014, Manzoni joined the
British civil service
In the United Kingdom, the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government, which is led by a cabinet of ministers chosen ...
as the chief executive of the Major Projects Authority, a role under the remit of the Cabinet Office.
His former BP boss
John Browne, who had also left BP in 2007 sat on Manzoni's appointment panel but did not chair it.
Whilst in this role, Manzoni also served as a director for the brewing and beverage company
SABMiller
SABMiller plc was an Anglo–South African multinational brewing and beverage company headquartered in Woking, England on the outskirts of London until 10 October 2016 when it was acquired by AB InBev for US$107-billion. It was the world's sec ...
, chair of the energy company Leyshon Energy and an adviser to the venture capital company Adamant Ventures.
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
In the United Kingdom, the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or Secretariat (administrative office), secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government, which is led ...
when
Bob Kerslake
Robert Walter Kerslake, Baron Kerslake, (28 February 1955 – 1 July 2023) was a British senior civil servant. He was the head of the Home Civil Service from 2011 to 2014, succeeding Sir Gus O'Donnell.
Early life
Kerslake was born on 28 Feb ...
retired. A number of business figures who had been approached for the role were reported to have turned it down,
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.
His appointment was criticised by the
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice.
Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...
Member of Parliament (MP)
Caroline Lucas
Caroline Patricia Lucas (born 9 December 1960) is a British politician who was the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales from 2003 to 2006, 2007 to 2012, and 2016 to 2018. She was Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parli ...
.
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
Sarah Wollaston (born 17 February 1962) is a British former Liberal Democrat politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Totnes from 2010 to 2019. First elected for the Conservative Party, she later served as a Change UK and Libera ...
, then a
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
MP serving as chair of the
health select committee
The Health and Social Care Select Committee (abbreviated to HSC, HSCC and HSCSC) is a Departmental Select Committee of the British House of Commons, the lower house of the United Kingdom Parliament. Its remit is to examine the policy, administ ...
, 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. 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.
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. In the role, he advocated a "functional" model of government aimed at developing skills across different government departments.
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
The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 12 December 2019, with 47,074,800 registered voters entitled to vote to elect 650 Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Un ...
.
He was succeeded by
Alex Chisholm
Sir Alexander James Chisholm (born 2 January 1968) is a British civil servant and former regulator, who served as Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary and the chief operating officer of the Civil Service (United Kingdom), United Kingdom's Civil ...
, who took the title of chief operating officer of the Civil Service.
Later career
Manzoni was appointed to join the board of the alcohol company
Diageo
Diageo plc ( ) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It is a major distributor of Scotch whisky and other spirits and operates from 132 sites around the world ...
in 2020, with his term starting in October.
Manzoni was appointed Chair-Designate for the newly
renationalised Atomic Weapons Establishment
}
The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) is a United Kingdom Ministry of Defence research facility responsible for the design, manufacture and support of warheads for the UK's nuclear weapons. It is the successor to the Atomic Weapons Researc ...
in November 2020: he will take up the post on 1 July 2021.
Honours
Manzoni was appointed
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...
(KCB) in the
2020 New Year Honours
The 2020 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...
for public service.
References
External links
John Manzoni's page on gov.ukJohn Manzoni's page on Bloomberg.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manzoni, John
Living people
British chief executives
Directors of BP
1960 births
Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath
Permanent Secretaries of the Cabinet Office
Alumni of Imperial College London
Stanford University alumni