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John Holland-Kaye
Former CEO, Heathrow
During his time as chief executive, Heathrow has consistently improved service levels for passengers, while reducing costs, and it is now rated one of the best airports in the world. Heathrow was named Sustainable Business of the Year at the edie Awards and one of the Best Companies to work for by the Sunday Times and Glassdoor. He was responsible for developing the plan for a third runway at Heathrow which secured a cross-party parliamentary majority of 4:1 and successfully led Heathrow through the Covid-19 crisis and subsequent recovery. He has taken a leadership role in the movement to decarbonise global aviation, including the historic agreement at ICAO of a long-term aspirational goal of net zero aviation by 2050. Holland-Kaye is a non-executive director at Thames Water, chair of the governors at Bedford School and a director of King Charles’ Sustainable Markets Initiative. He has previously served as a non-executive director at Thames Tideway, as chair of business in the Community’s Employment and Skills Taskforce and as a member of DEFRA’s Council for Sustainable Business. Before becoming CEO in July 2014, he was development director at Heathrow, responsible for delivering the £2.5bn Terminal 2 on time and on budget. Prior to joining Heathrow, Holland-Kaye worked in housebuilding with Taylor Wimpey, in brewing and leisure retail with Bass and as a strategy consultant with LEK Consulting. He has lived and worked in the UK, US, Australia and the Philippines. He is a graduate of Cambridge University and has an MBA from INSEAD.