Sir Roger Carr became CBI president in June 2011.

Sir Roger joined the board of Centrica as Non-Executive Director in 2001.   He was appointed chairman of the board in May 2004 and is Chairman of the Nominations Committee.  He is a director on the Court of the Bank of England and he is also a senior advisor to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

John Cridland took up post as CBI Director-General in February 2011.  In this role, John is the key spokesman for the business community in the media, on public platforms and with government. He leads the CBI – the voice of business – in the UK and represents it internationally.

John was educated at Boston Grammar School and has an MA in history from Christ’s College Cambridge.

Paul Freeston joined Apetito UK in 1999 as Sales & Marketing Director and became Chief Executive of Apetito UK in 2001.  He is also a member of the Main Apetito International Board, President of Apetito Canada and a Director of Apetito France and Apetito Germany.

In the UK his key areas of responsibility include ensuring that Apetito maintains and improves its customer focus

Lord Green was appointed Minister of State for Trade and Investment on 11 January 2011.

Lord Green began his career with the British Government’s Ministry of Overseas Development.  In 1977, he joined McKinsey & Co Inc, management consultants, with whom he undertook assignments in Europe, North America and the Middle East. 

Laura Kuenssberg Business Editor ITN.

Laura was born in Italy and grew up in Glasgow. Before studying history at Edinburgh University, she spent a gap year studying and working in Paris. She also studied for a year at Georgetown University in Washington DC where she worked on an NBC political programme.  Laura returned to Edinburgh to work in cable TV and local radio before joining the BBC in March 2000.

Gary Lydiate is the CEO of the Kilfrost Group. Kilfrost was established 75 years ago to produce de/anti-icing products for the transport industry. It is now the world’s leading brand in the niche market of aircraft de/anti-icing. Its products are manufactured in the UK, Europe, Scandinavia, Japan and the USA.

Sergio Marchionne is CEO of Fiat S.p.A. and Chairman and CEO of Chrysler Group LLC, as well as Chairman of Fiat Industrial S.p.A. and CNH Global N.V.

He holds Bachelor degrees from the University of Toronto, as well as an MBA and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Windsor (Canada).  Mr Marchionne is a barrister, solicitor and chartered accountant.

Charlie Mayfield became the Partnership's fifth Chairman in March 2007. He joined the Partnership in 2000 as Head of Business Development, responsible for business strategy and development for both John Lewis and Waitrose. Charlie joined the Board as Development Director in 2001 and was responsible for developing the Partnership's online strategy. 

Jim O’Neill is Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM). As Chairman, he is involved in helping guide all aspects of GSAM’s business around the world. Prior to assuming this role in September 2010, Jim was Head of Global Economics, Commodities and Strategy Research.

Ali Parsa is a social entrepreneur who founded Circle, the largest healthcare partnership in Europe, in 2003.   His personal belief that employees should own the companies they work for has pioneered a new model of delivery in both public and private UK healthcare provision.  Prior to Circle, Ali was an Executive Director of Goldman Sachs' European Technology Investment banking team.

Jeff Randall is a journalist and presenter of Jeff Randall Live on Sky News, which takes a business look at the big news stories and issues of the day.  Since 2005 he has also been Editor-At-Large of the Daily Telegraph and writes a twice-weekly column for the newspaper. He joined the Telegraph after nearly five years as the BBC’s Business Editor.   Jeff joined the BBC from Sunday Business, which he edited from its launch in February 1998.

Steve Varley took up his appointment as Managing Partner of the UK & Ireland practice of Ernst & Young in July 2011.

Steve joined Ernst & Young as a Partner from Accenture in 2005 to lead the firm’s Advisory business. Under his leadership, Advisory grew to what is now a 1500 people strong business, with revenues in excess of £300m.