Allen to take the chair at Balfour Beatty

CHARLES ALLEN, one of the most prominent CEOs of his generation when he ran ITV, has been named as the next chairman of infrastructure building giant Balfour Beatty.

He will join the board after the company’s AGM today as a non-executive director before taking over from current chairman Philip Aiken on July

20. His previous City roles include chairing ISS and EMI

Music and he was chief executive of ITV and the caterer Compass Group as well being chief adviser to the British Home Office.

Regularly appearing in the lists of the country’s most influential gay people, Labour peer Lord Allen of Kensington’s appointment will mark a welcome element of LGBT diversity in the construction industry.

He sits in the House of Lords and currently holds positions as “advisory chairman” at the mergers and acquisitions advice boutique, Moelis & Company. He is also chairman of Global Media and Entertainment.

Aiken, who has been in post for six years, said Allen “brings to our board a wealth of experience of international companies, a range of sectors and Government”.

Allen was one of the most prominent corporate CEOs in the 1990s when he worked with the Gerry Robinson at Granada and Michael Green at ITV.