01 October 2012
Lord Mayor Elect Alderman Roger Gifford
Alderman Roger Gifford was today elected as the 685th Lord Mayor of the City of London, to serve as the global ambassador for UK-based financial and business services, from Friday 9 November (the Lord Mayor’s Show is on Saturday 10 November).
Alderman Gifford, who served as Sheriff of the City in 2008/9, was born in St Andrews, Scotland and educated at Sedbergh and Trinity College, Oxford. He joined S.G. Warburg & Co in 1978, working in international banking and capital markets.
Speaking after his election, Lord Mayor Elect Gifford said:
“Next month will mark exactly 30 years since I joined SEB and 35 years since I first started working in the City. During this time, London’s Square Mile has become a truly global centre - however, the focus of my year in office will be to underline that service is, and must be, at the heart of the financial services industry of the UK. In other words that the City must serve society – and be seen to do so.’’
In 1982 Gifford left Warburgs to join a new merchant bank owned by Swedish interests. SEB (Skandinaviska Enskilda Bank) has grown in London to be some 200 people strong and he is now UK Country Manager. For six years in the 1990s he headed the Bank’s operations in Japan. He was the Chairman (2007-11) and is the current Vice-Chairman of the Association of Foreign Banks, which represents all foreign banks based in London.
Gifford was elected as Alderman for the Ward of Cordwainer in the City of London in 2004 and 2011. Alderman Gifford is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians and the Worshipful Company of International Bankers (Master 2010/11); sponsoring Alderman for the Guild of Public Relations Practitioners, and a member of the WC Cordwainers and Security Professionals. He is also a Member of the Cordwainer and Bread Street Ward Clubs, the Royal Society of St George, the United Wards Club and the City Livery Club.
Lord Mayor Elect Gifford added: “As the first banker to serve as Lord Mayor for some time, I am determined to help more people understand banking’s proper role in society. I know from my career that through the financing of projects, companies and institutions, banks play a concrete part in society but this is a side of banking that many people know less about. It is also important to raise awareness that the financial services industry accounts for 9 per cent of GDP and 12 per cent of UK tax receipts.”
“Beyond that, I want to promote the City as a global centre for philanthropy. The Livery Companies already do a huge amount to support those in need, and I will be encouraging City institutions and individuals to do more in this area.”
Alderman Gifford is a Trustee of St Paul’s Cathedral Foundation, St Paul’s Cathedral Choir School Foundation and King Edward’s School Witley; chair of the English Chamber Orchestra and the Tenebrae Choir, among other arts involvements. He is married to Clare, a consultant haematologist, and until recently, Medical Director of SHOT, the UK’s haemovigilance system working with the UK blood services.
Typically a Lord Mayor will spend three months a year leading City business delegations overseas – and also meeting leading overseas politicians and business leaders visiting London’s financial community.
Lord Mayor Elect Gifford’s charitable appeal, under the banner ‘The City in Society’, will focus on the City as a global centre for philanthropy and the arts, and reflect on the City of London’s major contribution to the society it serves in the 21st century. By giving a platform to its chosen charities, the Appeal aims to encourage and challenge people to give more and do more, to secure the future for the next generation. The appeal will be primarily in support of the City Music Foundation, which provides new opportunities for aspiring professional musicians in the early stages of their careers. Other charities include Futures For Kids, Epping Forest Appeal, The Harold Samuel Collection and the Lord Mayor’s Scholarship Programmes
The Lord Mayor Elect, as he is known after today’s election, does not take office until the Silent Ceremony, which is held in Great Hall, Guildhall on Friday 9 November at 3pm, the day preceding the Lord Mayor's Show (Saturday 10 November). The Lord Mayor's Banquet, at which the Prime Minister speaks, follows on Monday 12 November at Guildhall.
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Notes to editors
About the City of London corporation
The City of London Corporation has three roles: we support London’s communities by working in partnership with neighboring boroughs on economic regeneration and skills projects. Plus the City of London Corporation’s charity City Bridge Trust makes grants of more than £15 million annually to charitable projects across London and we also support education, with three independent schools and three City Academies – plus a primary school and the world-renown Guildhall School of Music and Drama. We also help look after key London heritage and green spaces including Tower Bridge, Museum of London, Barbican Arts Centre, City gardens, Hampstead Heath, Epping Forest, Burnham Beeches, and important ‘commons’ in south London. And – with its heart in London’s Square Mile - we also support and promote the ‘City’ as a world-leading financial and business hub, with outward and inward business delegations, high-profile civic events, research-driven policies and a long-term approach. See
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk for much more on our uniquely diverse role, including the City of London Police, etc.
About the Lord Mayor's Appeal Charity
City Music Foundation
The principal beneficiary of the Lord Mayor’s Appeal 2013 is the City Music Foundation, a charity established to give new opportunities to aspiring professional musicians in the early stages of their careers, both financially and through mentoring. The CMF will identify inspirational soloists and ensembles and make them accessible to a new generation of audiences, young and old, in the UK and abroad.
By bringing together several established City-based institutions, including the Barbican Arts Centre, the Milton Court development of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the London Symphony Orchestra, the City of London Festival and the Worshipful Company of Musicians, CMF unites experts who share a common purpose in their commitment to support young artists beyond the end of formal musical training or education.
CMF will support individuals or groups in classical, jazz or world music genres and successful applicants will receive a grant to fund a series of concerts over a one year period, mentorship from experienced artists in their field, and marketing and publicity support. The aim is to equip each musician with the professional tools they need to promote themselves to a wider audience and to support themselves financially though music. At every performance, tickets will be made available for school age children and the elderly to attend.
Music permeates every aspect of our live and we need to do more to support those who work so hard to create it. Only by promoting and sustaining young, able musicians will the future of live musical performance, new interpretations and new commissions be assured.
Furures for kids
The Lord Mayor’s Appeal will also support Futures for Kids, a charity launched in 2008 by a group of people in the futures industry, with the aim of raising funds to relieve hardship, poverty, sickness and distress among children and young people in the UK and the rest of the world. Since its launch Futures for Kids has raised in excess of £1.3m and made a difference to thousands of children worldwide. Charities supported include: EveryChild, Fairbridge, HopeHIV, Living and Loving, Whizz Kidz, Variety – The Children’s Charity, The Bicycle Helmet Initiative Trust, and The PACE Centre.
Gifford Wood Appeal
The Appeal will fund the planting of 4,500 trees on a five acre site recently acquired by the City of London. This will extend Epping Forest and will be planted mainly with native oak and hornbeam, to reflect the mix of veteran trees for which Epping Forest is the most important site in the UK, and indeed in Europe. The project will also provide an opportunity to plant some pioneer species more tolerant of projected changes in climate, and potentially create a seed bank to secure these species for the future. ‘Future proofing’ will not only safeguard habitats for the diverse species in Epping Forest’s woodland, but will provide valuable insight for those visiting ‘The View’, Epping Forest’s newly opened visitor centre, into the need for planning ahead to conserve our countryside heritage.
The Harold Samuel Collection
The Appeal will set up a fund for the conservation and maintenance of this internationally acclaimed collection of Dutch 17th century paintings, which were bequeathed to the City of London to hang in the Mansion House by the great philanthropist and founder of Land Securities, Harold Samuel. During the year the paintings will be made accessible to a wider audience and the new fund will ensure that they will continue to inspire in the 21st century and beyond.
The Lord Mayor's Scholarship Progreammes
The Appeal will support the Sir John Cass’s Foundation Lord Mayor’s Scholarship Programme, which meets the costs of tuition and maintenance fees for young Londoners facing financial hardship while at university, and the Mansion House Scholarship Scheme, which offers scholarships to overseas students from developing countries for Masters level degree courses at British Universities or work placements in the UK’s financial services industry.
- Published:
- 01 October 2012
- Last Modified:
- 01 October 2012