Sir Adrian Cadbury

Sir Adrian Cadbury is perhaps most well known for his chairmanship of the Committee on The Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance (more commonly known as the Cadbury Committee) between 1991 and 1995 and the code of best practice which bears his name. The development of corporate governance worldwide owes much to the work of the Cadbury Committee and the principles it developed under Sir Adrian's chairmanship. The Committee's work provided the foundation for the UK's current Combined Code on Corporate Governance.

Between 1969 and 1974 Sir Adrian was Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of Cadbury Schweppes. He became Chairman in 1974, a role he held until 1989. During this time Sir Adrian also served as a director of IBM UK Ltd and between 1990 and 1994 he was a member of the UK Takeover Panel. He chaired the CBI's Economic and Financial Policy Committee between 1974 and 1980 and ProNed between 1984 and 1995. He was a director of the Bank of England between 1970 and 1994.

In recognition of his contribution to commerce, corporate governance and public life, Sir Adrian has received honorary degrees from many universities. All three Birmingham universities have recognised him in this way (Aston in 1973; Birmingham in 1996 and The University of Central England in 2004) as have, amongst others, Cambridge, Bristol and Gent. In 1995 the Royal Society of Arts awarded Sir Adrian its Albert Medal and in 2001 he received one of the International Corporate Governance Network's inaugural International Corporate Governance Awards.