[6] The previous chief executive, Ian Livingston, said of him, "...one button undone was fine, two was a bit racy, and three was Gavin.

[10] He was BT's representative on the Confederation of British Industry (CBI)'s Climate Change Board,[11] 2008-[2013], and joined the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)'s Executive Committee[12] effective 1 January 2015, after the company joined in April 2014.

[14] In November 2019, it was announced that Patterson had joined the board of directors for the artificial intelligence company Fractal Analytics.

[15][16][17][18][19] In November 2019, Patterson had joined the board of directors for the Challenger Consultancy Elixirr as non-Executive Chairman.

[20][17][18] Together with Founder and CEO, Stephen Newton, Patterson then led Elixirr to one of the most successful IPO's during the Covid 19 lockdown.