Kenneth John Hydon FCMA, FCCA, FCT (born November 1944) is a British accountant who has been a director of several FTSE 100 companies: RB (Reckitt Benckiser), Merlin Entertainments Group, Tesco, Pearson, Vodafone and also the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, an acute general hospital in the UK.

Early life edit

Ken Hydon was born in November 1944 in Leicester, England.[1] His father was John Hydon and his mother was Vera.[1]

Career edit

Hydon was among the cabal[2] that included Sir Christopher Gent and Sir Julian Horn-Smith who transformed Vodafone from a small subsidiary of Racal Electronics to one of the top 25 companies in the world.[citation needed] He was financial director of Vodafone from 1985 until he retired in 2005. He was closely involved in Vodafone's major transactions including the formation of Vodafone AirTouch in 1999 and the agreement to acquire Mannesmann in 2000. He was a member of the Board of Representatives of Verizon Wireless in the US from 2000 until he retired in 2005.[3] He previously joined Racal Electronics in 1977 and was financial director of several Racal subsidiaries.

Hydon was appointed as a non-executive director of RB (Reckitt Benckiser) in 2003[4] and retired in 2018.[5] In 2004, he was appointed a non-executive director of Tesco[6] and retired in 2013.[7] He joined the board of the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust as a non executive director in 2005 and retired in 2012[8] Hydon became a non-executive director of Pearson in February 2006[9] and retired in 2015.[10] He became a non-executive director of Merlin Entertainments in October 2013[11] and retired in 2018.[12]

Hydon is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA),[13] the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)[14] and the Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT).[15]

Personal life edit

Hydon married Sylvia (deceased) in 1966[1] and they had a son and a daughter.[1]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d "HYDON, Kenneth John". Who's Who 2017. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  2. ^ Cabal
  3. ^ Vodafone
  4. ^ Reckitt Benckiser
  5. ^ https://markets.ft.com/data/announce/full?dockey=1323-13571836-4FQ7QU5DLNV78IBL21Q34TKDT3
  6. ^ "Tesco PLC". Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
  7. ^ "REG - Tesco PLC - Directorate Change | Reuters". in.reuters.com. Archived from the original on 23 March 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  8. ^ "Royal Berkshire. NHS Foundation Trust". Archived from the original on 2009-04-16. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
  9. ^ Pearson Archived July 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ "Glen Moreno to step down as Pearson chairman". www.pearson.com. Archived from the original on 2015-07-05.
  11. ^ "Merlin Entertainments | Non-Executive Directors Ken Hydon". www.merlinentertainments.biz. Archived from the original on 2014-02-05.
  12. ^ https://markets.ft.com/data/announce/detail?dockey=1323-13554783-6BKC1437U2HLCGA95L11HV0OJO
  13. ^ CIMA
  14. ^ ACCA
  15. ^ ACT