Lord Browne (BP)

John Browne graduated from St John's College, Cambridge, with a first in physics and joined BP in 1966. Identified early as a rare talent, he rose through the ranks in a variety of exploration, production and finance posts worldwide, becoming chief executive in 1995. He then transformed BP from a £20 billion company into the £140 billion behemoth it is today.
In 1998 Sir John Browne, as he was then known, masterminded what was history's biggest ever industrial merger when BP purchased Amoco for $55 billion. In July 2007 Lord Browne retired from BP.