Derek George Henry Laud FRSA (born 9 August 1964[citation needed]) is a British banker, author, broadcaster and visiting professor.
He has other wide business interests, including as adviser to Lord Glendonbrook, the former chairman of Channel Four and owner of BMI airlines.
He is the chairman of the Foundation Board of Lucy Cavendish College at the University of Cambridge, and also Chairs the North American Committee.
He holds various degrees, including in History and later studied and conducted research in the Divinity Faculty at Cambridge University.
He later wrote a paper on how to apply cultural sanctions on the regime and was a vocal critic of the British government and its apparent lack of interest in dismantling apartheid.
became a researcher and special adviser, working for Conservative Members of Parliament and government ministers in the mid to late 1980s.
He also worked as an advisor to Sir Gordon Downey, the former auditor general, parliamentary commissioner for standards, and chairman of the Personal Investment Authority.
[2][3] During this period, Laud also contributed to speeches for other leading Conservative politicians, including Alan Clark and Michael Heseltine.
[3] In May 2019 Laud stood for the Liberal Democrats in Witney for election to West Oxfordshire District Council, as a protest against the Windrush scandal.
In the late 1980s Laud was a consultant for Strategy Network International (SNI),[8] a lobbying company with clients in the mining and minerals sector in Southern Africa.
Laud sat on the advisory board of Sadlers Wells, chaired by Ian Hay Davison, the CEO of Lloyd's of London.
During the late 1990s, Laud was headhunted into private equity by Sir John Beckwith, and was a director of companies owned and controlled by the Pacific Group.
Other investments included healthcare, education (Laud chaired the board of the Ravenstone House Group of Schools) gyms, sport and outdoor media, and owners of a model agency.