Coldplay Promoter Enjoys Influence In America

David Munns, chairman and chief executive of EMI North America, is 5th in the 'Britons who wield the most influence in America' list.

5 DAVID MUNNS, chairman and chief executive, EMI North America, age 54

Music was Munns’ first love. After Harrow County School for Boys and the College for Distributive Trades in London, he joined the British music giant EMI. His career took him full circle — after managing Bon Jovi and top jobs at Polygram, Munns returned to EMI in 2001.

He is now promoting Britain’s Gorillaz and Coldplay to a US audience as well as American acts such as country music star Trace Adkins.

Like much of the music industry, the British label has had a tough few years. Munns recently added running EMI’s struggling Virgin label to his responsibilities. But things are looking brighter for Munns. This month EMI Group reported its first sales jump since 2000 thanks to a big increase in digital downloads and strong album sales by Coldplay and Gorillaz.Here is our top 25.

1 MARTIN SULLIVAN, president and chief executive officer of American International group (AIG), age 51

Scandal may have elevated Sullivan to the top job at the insurance behemoth but it seems to have brought out the best in him.

Earlier this year founder Maurice “Hank” Greenberg was ousted from AIG after more than three decades amid a multibillion dollar accounting scandal. AIG’s shares went in to freefall, wiping $45 billion (£26 billion) off its value.

Sullivan, who is married with two daughters, has done much to calm the waters with shareholders and regulators. The share price has recovered sharply and AIG is now valued at more than $177 billion.

Born in Stepney in east London and raised in Dagenham, Essex, Sullivan started as a trainee with AIG in 1971 in the finance department of American International Underwriters, AIG’s non-life arm in the UK and worked his way to the top.

He moved to America in 1996 and served as vice-chairman and co-chief operating officer of AIG from May 2002 until March 2005, when he was elected to his current position after Greenberg’s departure.

Sullivan said being a Brit in America has some distinct advantages: “When I go to Washington on AIG business, I’m well received by members of both political parties. The strong and close friendship between the two countries is an immediate ice-breaker.

“Occasionally, I am ‘challenged’ by ‘two countries divided by a common language’ and I’m still educating my American colleagues about Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, ” he said.

2 SIR HOWARD STRINGER, Sony chairman and chief executive, age 63

Stringer was born in Cardiff in 1942 to a father who was an RAF pilot. He attended Oundle public school on a scholarship and went on to graduate from Oxford with a BA and an MA in modern history. From this very British upbringing he forged a truly American career.

He moved to New York aged 23 to become a clerk at CBS Radio. Soon after his first pay cheque landed he was drafted to Vietnam, spending two years in the army and being decorated for valour.

A 30-year career at CBS followed, where he was responsible for all the broadcast activities of the company including entertainment, news, sports, radio and television stations. Under his leadership, the CBS television network rose from last to first place in one season.

He joined Sony in 1997 and became the company’s first foreign chairman this year. Now a naturalised American citizen, he splits his time between New York, Tokyo and London.

Stringer’s Madison Avenue office reflects his rich history. Pride of place goes to a large bronze of a rodeo cowboy inscribed: “To Howard, the only network executive I can hang out with and still love.” It is signed by Burt Reynolds. Close by are two Welsh flags, a miniature model of Cardiff Arms Park and an award in the shape of a coalminer’s lamp.

3 JONATHAN IVE, Apple vice-president and designer of the iPod, age 38

Ive may not be the richest or the most senior figure on the list, but he has certainly been one of the most influential. Born in London, Ive, right, studied design and art at Newcastle Polytechnic (now Northumbria University) and moved to San Francisco to join Apple's design team in 1992. The rest is design history.

The man who designed the iPod and many more of Apple's most iconic products has shaken up both the music and the electronics industry.

Apple is now a major player in the music business thanks to Ive's sleek, cool and easy-to-use designs. And downloading music is a mainstream activity. It wouldn't have happened without him.

4 JEFFREY URWIN, co-head of investment banking, Bear Stearns

Bankers just care about results, they don’t care about nationality. But we do. There may be bigger banks and more famous bankers but as the only European heading a full-service investment bank in America, Urwin heads Britain’s strong presence on Wall Street.

5 DAVID MUNNS, chairman and chief executive, EMI North America, age 54

Music was Munns’ first love. After Harrow County School for Boys and the College for Distributive Trades in London, he joined the British music giant EMI. His career took him full circle — after managing Bon Jovi and top jobs at Polygram, Munns returned to EMI in 2001.

He is now promoting Britain’s Gorillaz and Coldplay to a US audience as well as American acts such as country music star Trace Adkins.

Like much of the music industry, the British label has had a tough few years. Munns recently added running EMI’s struggling Virgin label to his responsibilities. But things are looking brighter for Munns. This month EMI Group reported its first sales jump since 2000 thanks to a big increase in digital downloads and strong album sales by Coldplay and Gorillaz.

6 DAVID SIDWELL, executive vice-president and chief financial officer, Morgan Stanley, age 52

Sidwell made Wall Street headlines last year when it was revealed that the former JP Morgan banker was being paid $10.5m a year in salary and bonus to swap banks. Dropping Sidwell would cost the bank twice that sum. For once the phrase “overpaid and over here” was being applied to a Brit in America.

A Cambridge graduate and chartered accountant, Sidwell joined Morgan Stanley just before the bank erupted in a civil war that claimed the job of bank boss Phil Purcell. Unlike many of Purcell’s senior appointments, Sidwell has escaped the axe of new boss John Mack.

7 JOHN WALSH, head of credit markets, RBS Greenwich Capital

New York’s JFK airport is so covered in ads for Royal Bank of Scotland that any Brit landing there could be forgiven for wondering if he had been diverted to Edinburgh. RBS has no own-brand banks in America but is rapidly becoming a major player, buying local networks and building an impressive trading business.

Walsh is the bank’s not-so secret weapon. One of the most successful international bond bankers of the past 20 years, he is now using RBS’s formidable balance sheet to win over Wall Street clients.

He joined RBS from Credit Suisse First Boston where his final three-year contract was rumoured to be worth $30m.

8 CHRIS RODRIGUES, president and chief executive, Visa International, age 56

The son of two dancers from the Royal Ballet, Rodrigues was raised in northwest London and studied at University College School, Jesus College, Cambridge, and Harvard Business School.

He was a contemporary of Archie Norman, the former Asda chairman, at McKinsey, the management consultancy whose alumni include Don Cruickshank, the London Stock Exchange chairman, and Sir Howard Davies, chairman of the Financial Services Authority.

Top jobs at American Express, Thomas Cook and Bradford & Bingley followed for Rodrigues. He now lives in San Francisco and heads Visa International, the umbrella company for the payment system used by a billion card holders and 20m merchants worldwide.

9 IAN COOK, chief operating officer Colgate Palmolive, age 52

Cook joined the London marketing department of Colgate, famous for its toothpaste, in 1976, and worked his way through marketing and management positions for the company in America, the Philippines and Dominican Republic. He was appointed chief operating officer in 2002, and oversees all the company’s operating divisions, global business development, sales, and global advertising. He was previously executive vice-president and president, Colgate-North America.

10 MICHAEL MORITZ, partner Sequoia Capital, age 51

Tech giants including Apple, Cisco Systems, Google and Yahoo have all benefited from Sequoia’s helping hand. Cricket-mad and Cardiff-born Moritz has made a fortune in America backing the new wave of companies. The venture-capital firm, based in Menlo Park, California, has made some bad decisions. For example, it poured money into now defunct online grocer WebVan. But the bets it got right more than outweigh the losses. Moritz, who read history at Christ Church, Oxford, is now one of the most influential investors in Silicon Valley.

11 SIR ANDREW CROCKETT, head of JP Morgan International, age 62

Born in Glasgow and educated at Cambridge and Yale, Crockett was once in the running to be Bank of England governor. England’s loss was JP Morgan’s gain. One of the best connected bankers on Wall Street, Crockett spent 17 years at the International Monetary Fund. He reports directly to Bill Harrison, chairman of JP Morgan.

12 SIR DERYCK MAUGHAN, managing director KKR, age 57

Another well connected Brit, Maughan is former vice-chairman of Citigroup, chairman and CEO of Salomon Brothers and a former vice-chairman of the New York Stock Exchange. He started his career at the Treasury and moved to America to join Salomon Brothers in 1983. Maughan resigned from Citigroup in 2004 after Japanese regulators ordered the bank to close its private-banking operations following violations of securities laws. He had overall responsibility for the division. He joined venture-capital group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts earlier this year and is chairman of KKR Asia as well as managing director. Maughan was knighted in 2002 for his contributions to British business and commercial interests in America.

13 ANDY BIRD, president Disney International, age 41

Bird started his career as a radio producer for Piccadilly Radio in Manchester. He went on to make his mark at Time Warner, spreading Cartoon Network across Europe and becoming president of TBS International. He is now based in Los Angeles and is responsible for hunting out business opportunities across the world.

14 ANDREW MOONEY, chairman Disney consumer products, age 50

Born in Whitburn, Scotland, Mooney takes the world of Disney off the screen and on to the high street. He joined Disney after a 20-year career with Nike. He joined Nike in Britain, becoming chief marketing officer for Nike in America in 1994 and head of its $3 billion global apparel business. In the US Mooney convinced Hollywood stars and celebs like Paris Hilton to wear Mickey Mouse T-shirts — revitalising the brand’s fashion cachet. Retail sales of the retro T-shirts have doubled annually since their introduction. “Never underestimate the power of a free T-shirt,” said Mooney.

15 DANIEL BATTSEK, president of Miramax Films, age 47

Battsek took over all operations at Miramax, the studio behind Academy Award best picture winners The English Patient and Shakespeare in Love in October 2005, and relocated from Britain to New York. He first joined Disney in 1991, when he was hired to start up Disney’s film-distribution arm in Britain. In 1998, he was promoted to oversee 35 films a year for the Disney, Touchstone and Miramax labels. He also built the UK Comedy Label production company. Before joining Disney, Battsek was managing director of Palace Pictures where he was involved in all aspects of marketing, distribution and acquisitions in Britain and Ireland. A graduate of Oxford Polytechnic, where he majored in social and political sciences, he began his industry career at The Hoyts Film Corporation in Sydney. Most recently, he was vice-president and managing director of distribution and production for Buena Visa International UK.

16 MARK BURNETT, president of Mark Burnett Productions, age 45

The billionaire British-born Burnett has America by the eyeballs. The king of reality TV, his hits shows, including Survivor and The Apprentice, regularly pull in audiences of 20m. Burnett grew up in inner-city London and after school enlisted as a paratrooper. He served in the army from 1977 to 1982, seeing action in the Falklands. He arrived in America in 1983 with no work permit and took a series of jobs including nanny and chauffeur. His recent global hit Rock Star INXS shows that, despite what the critics say, audiences have not yet tired of reality TV.

17 JOHN BARBOUR, president of Toys R Us, age 41

It has been gloomy in toyland. After years of falling sales, Toys R Us was bought by property and private-equity firms this summer. This Christmas, Barbour, a University of Glasgow graduate with 20 years of experience in the toy business, must prove his stuff.

18 FRANCES FARROW, chief executive Virgin USA, age 42

Farrow joined Virgin Atlantic as commercial-services director, from City law firm Binder Hamlyn. While heading up corporate services at Virgin Atlantic, her legal background meant she provided wide legal advice within the Virgin group. She later became chief executive of Virgin USA and a member of the board of Virgin Mobile USA. Farrow moved to New York several years ago, and worked closely with Sir Richard Branson to realise his dream of starting a US airline, Virgin America.

19 TERRY DONOVAN & SAM HOUSER, founders Rockstar Games, both aged 35

Carjacking, shooting and drugs have all featured heavily in Rockstar's smash hit video game series Grand Theft Auto (GTA). It's a combination that has made Rockstar, game for game, the most successful, and controversial, game company in the world. Senator Hilary Clinton attacked GTA, Senator Joseph Lieberman said the game rewarded 'perverse, antisocial behaviour' and the latest version had to be pulled from shelves after graphic sex scenes were found hidden in the software. Rockstar Games was founded in 1998 by Donovan, Jamie King and Dan Houser, brother of Sam. All had been working at BMG, the music group. With the next generation of games machines from Microsoft and Sony just coming online, Rockstar looks set to be pushing even more buttons.

20 RON ZWANZIGER, chairman, chief executive officer and president, Inverness Medical Innovations

If you have ever taken a home-pregnancy test, the chances are Zwanziger was behind it. Cypriot-born and London-educated, Zwanziger’s IMI makes Accu-clear, Clearblue and Fact Plus and is the largest manufacturer of home-pregnancy kits in the world. Zwanziger sold his last company, Inverness Medical Technologies, to Johnson & Johnson for $1.2 billion in 2001. He received an engineering degree from Imperial College London before attending Harvard Business School. Zwanziger and his company are headquartered in Massachusetts but employ 500 people in Scotland.

21 DAVID PYOTT, chairman Allergan, age 52

Pyott is the man behind the unlined faces of celebrities across the world. California-based Allergan is a healthcare company specialising in eye and skincare products - its most famous brand is Botox, originally developed to control involuntary blinking. As a 'side effect' it also erased wrinkles. When Pyott took the helm at Allergan in 1998 he realised Botox's potential and started to put in the resources to turn it into a worldwide phenomenon. Pyott, who speaks four languages and has lived in 10 countries, left England at age three for India, where his father ran a sugar plantation. During his college years, Pyott split his time between England, Germany and the Netherlands, collecting degrees in business and law. He has retained his understated British humour. Asked about anlaysts who saw Botox as a minor niche drug, he offered only one word: 'Oops.'

22 JIM REID-ANDERSON, chairman, president and chief executive, Dade Behring, age 46

Blood and urine are this Chicago-based company’s specialities. Dade Behring is the world’s largest company dedicated solely to clinical diagnostics, analysing body fluids for everything from medical screenings to drug tests.

Reid-Anderson took over as chairman and president in 2002 after the company emerged from bankruptcy protection. Dade Behring has been roaring ahead ever since.

The chairman is an alumnus of Salesian College, a Catholic school in Battersea, London, and Birmingham University, where he met his wife Judith. The couple have four children, Miles, Katie, Ross and Jamie who were all raised in America but consider themselves as much Brits as Yanks. “When their friends come round we feed them bangers and mash and shepherd’s pie,” said Reid-Anderson.

Before Dade Behring, Reid-Anderson’s career spanned Wilson’s sporting goods and Grand Metropolitan, now part of drinks firm Diageo. His boss at Grand Metropolitan was Diageo chief Paul Walsh. “He was the greatest mentor of my career,” said Reid-Anderson.

The Chicago-based Brit has done a remarkable job turning round the fortunes of Dade Behring. He is definitely a man to watch.

23 COLIN REED, chairman and chief executive Gaylord Entertainment, age 55

You don’t get much more American than The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. Patsy Kline, Hank Williams and today’s country music giants have all played the legendary music venue. For the past four years it has been run by a man from Tonbridge, Kent.

The Opry is part of Gaylord Entertainment, which runs hotels, a radio station and a music publisher whose star songs include Your Cheating Heart and Pretty Woman.

The son of a troubled second world war veteran, Reed left school at 16 with no qualifications. He worked his way up through the hospitality industry, taking the top job at Gaylord in 2001.

There were fears that the Brit would sacrifice country traditions for financial gain. Protests were held outside a local radio station when word leaked he wanted to change the country-music format.

But now Nashville has taken to Reed. In 2003 he beat senators, the governor of Tennessee and the mayor of Nashville to be named both Tennessean of the Year and the most influential person in Nashville.

24 PROFESSOR JOHN QUELCH, senior associate dean, Harvard Business School, age 54

The former dean of the London Business School is now making his mark shaping the minds of a new generation of business leaders. As well as teaching at the world’s top business school. Quelch is a non- executive director of Pepsi Bottling Group and WPP Group. He is also chairman of the Massachusetts Port Authority.

25 BLYTHE MASTERS, chief financial officer of JP Morgan's investment bank, age 35

Masters is one of the most senior women on Wall Street. An economics graduate from Trinity College, Cambridge, she is an acknowledged expert in the complex world of credit derivatives.