Rick Haythornthwaite is one of the UK's leading business figures. His career began in the oil industry with BP and Premier Oil, before he made his name by selling Blue Circle, a cement company, to a French rival for a good price. "Slick Rick", as he was known, moved on to Invensys, the UK manufacturing conglomerate, and its seemingly endless turnround, before turning to non-executive roles.

Foremost among these is his chairmanship of MasterCard, the US-based credit card company that is one of the world's largest financial groups. But the 51-year-old also sits on the board of UK property company Land Securities, advises private equity firm Star Capital and is head of the UK's Risk and Regulation Advisory Council. He is well connected in the arts and gave up directorships at London's Tate Gallery and Almeida Theatre to become head of the prestigious Southbank arts centre.