- For other notable people called John Browne, see John Browne (disambiguation).
John Browne, Esq, Baron Browne of Madingley (b. February 20,1948), at one time Sir Edmund John Phillip Browne, is a group chief executive of BP. Born in Chelsea, England to a British army officer and Hungarian Auschwitz survivor, he was educated at Kings School, Ely, St John's College, Cambridge, where he earned a bachelor's degree in physics; he later obtained an MBA from Stanford University.
Browne joined BP in 1966 and has served as group chief executive since 1995. He is a non-executive director of the Intel Corporation and Goldman Sachs, a trustee of the British Museum, a member of the Governing Body of the London Business School and a member of the Supervisory Board of DaimlerChrysler AG. He is also emeritus chairman of the Advisory Board of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, a trustee of the Conference Board, Inc. and a vice president and member of the board of the Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum.
In 1998, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth and in 2001 named as one of the "people's peers" taking the title of Baron Browne of Madingley and becoming a crossbencher (independent member) in the British House of Lords
Under his leadership, BP recovered from its slump of the mid 1980s and has shaken up the staid oil industry. His bold merger with Amoco and the later acquisitions of ARCO and Castrol kicked off a round of industry consolidations that saw the creation of today's oil "super majors". He also challenged oil industry rejection of global warming and sought to make BP the "green" oil company. Though many dispute that an oil company can truly be environmentally sensitive, Browne has stated that the right to heat, light and mobility are central to people everywhere and that he sees his company's mission as to find ways to meet those needs without harming the environment.
John Browne is unmarried, listing fine cigars, antique furniture and the arts among his interests.
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