Chris Gent

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Sir Christopher Gent (Beckenham, Kent, May 10, 1948) is the former chief executive officer of Vodafone, a British mobile phone company. After retiring in July 2003, he was awarded the honorary title of Company's President for Life on his departure as a mark of his achievement in developing the company, till his resignation from that position in March 2006. The title carried no salary, nor any advisory responsibilities, but was a symbolic link to the business that few former chief executives are allowed to retain.

Gent was widely credited with transforming Vodafone from a small British company into a global giant, and who engineered Vodafone's 178 billion pound ($212 billion) historic purchase of Germany's Mannesmann in 2000.

He received a knighthood for his services to the telecoms industry in the 2001 Queen's birthday honours list.

He is now Chairman of GlaxoSmithKline, a British pharmaceutical company.

From October 2005 to October 2006 he served on the Tax Reform Commission, established by the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne MP.

In March 2007 Gent called for a referendum on London's hosting of the 2012 Olympics. He was quoted as saying "I cannot see that the long-term economic benefit of hosting the Games outweighs the costs and the horrific burden on the taxpayer, particularly London rate-payers. The cost for them is going to be astronomically high."