Sir John Wilfred Peace (born 2 March 1949) is a British businessman, ex-chairman of British fashion house Burberry and ex-chairman of

Standard Chartered Standard Chartered PLC is a British multinational bank with operations in wealth management, corporate and investment banking, and treasury services. Despite being headquartered in the United Kingdom, it does not conduct retail banking in th ...

, a British multinational banking and financial services company. Since 2017, he is Chancellor of Nottingham Trent University.

Early life

Peace was born into a mining family at

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of the Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area and the second largest settlement in Nottinghamshire (following the city ...

in Nottinghamshire (where he still has a home) and attended school there. He was then educated at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

Career

Peace joined GUS plc after leaving Sandhurst, rising to group chief executive. He held this position from 2000 to 2006. He was Chairman of

Experian Experian plc is a multinational corporation, multinational data broker and consumer credit reporting company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Experian collects and aggregates information on more than 1 billion people and businesses including ...

plc from 2006 to 2014. Peace is chairman of

Standard Chartered Bank Standard Chartered PLC is a British multinational bank with operations in wealth management, Wholesale banking, corporate and investment banking, and treasury services. Despite being headquartered in the United Kingdom, it does not conduct retai ...

and non-executive chairman of Burberry Group plc since June 2002. Since February 2016, he has been independent chair of Sub-national Transport Body Midlands Connect, which was set up in 2014 to produce a long-term transport strategy for the Midlands region. In June 2016, he was appointed chair of the Midlands Engine, which was set up by the government to raise productivity and economic growth in the Midlands region, and of which Midlands Connect is the transport arm. Since 2017, he has been Chancellor of Nottingham Trent University.

Other positions

Peace became Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire from 21 July 2012. He was knighted in 2011 for services to business and the voluntary sector and appointed Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services as lord lieutenant.

Personal life

John Peace married Christine "Chris" Blakemore in 1971. They had met at school and started dating when he was 18. She is a school teacher: the couple have three daughters.

References

Living people 1949 births British chairpersons of corporations British chief executives Knights Bachelor Lord-lieutenants of Nottinghamshire Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst People from Mansfield Businesspeople awarded knighthoods People associated with Nottingham Trent University Burberry people Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order British Army officers Military personnel from Nottinghamshire 20th-century British Army personnel {{UK-business-bio-1940s-stub