David Pitt-Watson
Encyclopedia
David Pitt-Watson is a Scottish business and social entrepreneur
and author
. He is currently a Senior Advisor to Deloitte Consulting and Hermes Pension Management Limited. Pitt-Watson is also a non-executive director of Oxford Analytica
, a trustee
with several organisations and advises civil servants and senior politicians on issues of industrial and financial policy.
, Scotland
, he is the son of the Reverend Professor Ian Pitt-Watson (deceased 1995) and Helen Pitt-Watson. He has two sisters, Margaret and Rosemary.
and Aberdeen Grammar School
and then at Queen's College, Oxford where he studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He went on to win a scholarship from the Rotary Foundation
to Stanford University
Graduate School of Business
, where he graduated with an M.A.
and MBA in 1980.
and McKinsey Pitt-Watson co-founded and was ultimately Managing Director of Braxton Associates Limited. He worked there for 17 years during which time it was bought by Deloitte and became Deloitte Consulting, one of the largest strategy consultancies in Europe
.
He left that position in 1997 to become Assistant General Secretary of the Labour Party, a post he held for two years before joining Hermes Fund Managers as commercial director of their newly formed shareholder activist funds.
These funds, known as the Focus Funds, grew to be the largest of their kind in Europe. David became head of the funds and a director of Hermes in 2004, where he established Hermes Equity Ownership Service, a service to pension funds which aims to ensure that shares they own are used to promote good management practice and sustainable investment. HEOS currently advises on over £50bn worth of assets. The Focus Funds and HEOS established Hermes as a global leader in the field of Responsible Investment. Hermes interventions in companies have led to the successful turnaround of some of the country’s largest companies.
For over twenty years he has advised Labour Party
politicians, including Tony Blair
and Gordon Brown
, on issues of industrial and financial policy. He has also advised civil servants.
In April 2008 he was appointed to General Secretary of the Labour Party
but was unable to take up the role owing to issues of personal liability.
He also co-authored The New Capitalists
with Stephen Davis and Jon Lukomnik, which describes how structures of corporate governance can help ensure companies work in the interest of the millions of individuals who own their shares. It was published in November 2006 by Harvard Business School Press.
Together with these publications Pitt-Watson has written numerous papers and articles, and has been a regular contributor to British newspapers such as the Financial Times
and The Observer
.
and the Speakers' Corner
Trust which he currently Chairs.
At the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (The RSA) he leads the Tomorrow's Investor programme.
In February 2000 he helped initiate and served on the Co-operative Commission
(also known as the Monks Commission after its Chair, John Monks
), established by Tony Blair
, to help revive the fortunes of the UK Co-operative movement.
In the past Pitt-Watson has served on Labour’s Finance and Industry Group and was also a Labour Party councillor on Westminster City Council
from 1986 to 1990.
School of Management from 1990 to 1996.
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
. He is currently a Senior Advisor to Deloitte Consulting and Hermes Pension Management Limited. Pitt-Watson is also a non-executive director of Oxford Analytica
Oxford Analytica
Oxford Analytica is an international consulting firm providing strategic analysis of world events. It was founded in 1975 by David Young, an American employee of the National Security Council during the Nixon administration and one of the four in the Watergate scandal.Clients of Oxford Analytica...
, a trustee
Trustee
Trustee is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, can refer to any person who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the benefit of another...
with several organisations and advises civil servants and senior politicians on issues of industrial and financial policy.
Early life
Born in 1956 in AberdeenAberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, he is the son of the Reverend Professor Ian Pitt-Watson (deceased 1995) and Helen Pitt-Watson. He has two sisters, Margaret and Rosemary.
Education
Pitt-Watson was educated at Bearsden AcademyBearsden Academy
Bearsden Academy is a non-denominational, state secondary school in Bearsden, a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland.-History:The school was founded in 1911, sharing a building at Bearsden Cross with Bearsden Primary School. This building is still in use as the current Bearsden Primary site. In 1958, the...
and Aberdeen Grammar School
Aberdeen Grammar School
Aberdeen Grammar School, known to students as The Grammar is a state secondary school in the City of Aberdeen, Scotland. It is one of twelve secondary schools run by the Aberdeen City Council educational department...
and then at Queen's College, Oxford where he studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He went on to win a scholarship from the Rotary Foundation
Rotary Foundation
The Rotary Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation that supports the efforts of Rotary International to achieve world understanding and peace through international humanitarian, educational, and cultural exchange programs...
to Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
Graduate School of Business
Stanford Graduate School of Business
The Stanford Graduate School of Business is one of the professional schools of Stanford University, in Stanford, California and is broadly regarded as one of the best business schools in the world.The Stanford GSB offers a general management Master of Business Administration degree, the Sloan...
, where he graduated with an M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
and MBA in 1980.
Career
After short periods of work at 3i3i
3i Group plc is a multinational private equity and venture capital company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It has offices in 13 countries across Asia, Europe and the Americas and had total assets under management of £12.7 billion as at 31 March 2011...
and McKinsey Pitt-Watson co-founded and was ultimately Managing Director of Braxton Associates Limited. He worked there for 17 years during which time it was bought by Deloitte and became Deloitte Consulting, one of the largest strategy consultancies in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
He left that position in 1997 to become Assistant General Secretary of the Labour Party, a post he held for two years before joining Hermes Fund Managers as commercial director of their newly formed shareholder activist funds.
These funds, known as the Focus Funds, grew to be the largest of their kind in Europe. David became head of the funds and a director of Hermes in 2004, where he established Hermes Equity Ownership Service, a service to pension funds which aims to ensure that shares they own are used to promote good management practice and sustainable investment. HEOS currently advises on over £50bn worth of assets. The Focus Funds and HEOS established Hermes as a global leader in the field of Responsible Investment. Hermes interventions in companies have led to the successful turnaround of some of the country’s largest companies.
For over twenty years he has advised Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
politicians, including Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
and Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
, on issues of industrial and financial policy. He has also advised civil servants.
In April 2008 he was appointed to General Secretary of the Labour Party
General Secretary of the Labour Party
The General Secretary is the most senior employee of the British Labour Party, and acts as the non-voting secretary to the National Executive Committee...
but was unable to take up the role owing to issues of personal liability.
Author
He is the author of The Hermes Principles, which lays out the expectations of Hermes of the companies in which it invests, and form the rationale for Hermes interventions in underperforming companies.He also co-authored The New Capitalists
The New Capitalists
The “New Capitalists” is a term used by Stephen Davis, Jon Lukomnik and David Pitt-Watson in a book of the same title. It describes the increasing ownership of companies by collective investment schemes representing millions of savers...
with Stephen Davis and Jon Lukomnik, which describes how structures of corporate governance can help ensure companies work in the interest of the millions of individuals who own their shares. It was published in November 2006 by Harvard Business School Press.
Together with these publications Pitt-Watson has written numerous papers and articles, and has been a regular contributor to British newspapers such as the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
and The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
.
Charity work and public service
Pitt-Watson is a trustee of the Institute for Public Policy ResearchInstitute for Public Policy Research
The IPPR is the leading progressive think-tank in the UK. It produces research and policy ideas committed to upholding values of social justice, democratic reform and environmental sustainability. IPPR is based in London and IPPR North has branches in Newcastle and Manchester.It was founded in...
and the Speakers' Corner
Speakers' Corner
A Speakers' Corner is an area where open-air public speaking, debate and discussion are allowed. The original and most noted is in the north-east corner of Hyde Park in London, United Kingdom. Speakers there may speak on any subject, as long as the police consider their speeches lawful, although...
Trust which he currently Chairs.
At the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (The RSA) he leads the Tomorrow's Investor programme.
In February 2000 he helped initiate and served on the Co-operative Commission
Co-operative Commission
The Co-operative Commission was an independent commission set up by Tony Blair at the request of leaders of the British co-operative movement. Its aim was to review the strategy and structures of the sector, with an aim to suggesting ways to develop and modernise the movement, and its members...
(also known as the Monks Commission after its Chair, John Monks
John Monks
John Stephen Monks, Baron Monks is a member of the House of Lords and was the General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress in the UK from 1993 until 2003, when he became the General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation .-Early life:He attended Ducie Technical High School John...
), established by Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, to help revive the fortunes of the UK Co-operative movement.
In the past Pitt-Watson has served on Labour’s Finance and Industry Group and was also a Labour Party councillor on Westminster City Council
Westminster City Council
Westminster City Council is the local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council and is entitled to be known as a city council, which is a rare distinction in the United Kingdom. The city is divided into 20 wards, each electing three councillors...
from 1986 to 1990.
Academic appointment
Pitt-Watson was a Visiting Professor of Strategic Management at Cranfield UniversityCranfield University
Cranfield University is a British postgraduate university based on two campuses, with a research-oriented focus. The main campus is at Cranfield, Bedfordshire and the second is the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom based at Shrivenham, Oxfordshire. The main campus is unique in the United...
School of Management from 1990 to 1996.