A look at Richard Lapthorne, who has today been appointed Non Executive Chairman of the McLaren Group and a Non Executive Director of McLaren Automotive.

Lapthorne is Chairman of Cable and Wireless plc. Recently he was also Chairman of Morse plc and of the private equity owned fashion retailer New Look.

His career started with Unilever where in 18 years he worked in the UK, Paris, Holland and Africa. He then moved to Courtaulds plc as Group Financial Controller, becoming Finance Director in 1986 as well as Chairman of the US Group.

He joined British Aerospace plc in July 1992 and was a key member of the management team responsible for transforming the company into Europe's leading aerospace and defence company. He retired as Vice Chairman in 1999.

He started his non-executive career with Amersham International plc in 1989, becoming Chairman from 1996 until 2003.

He has held a number of other directorships including Robert Fleming, the merchant bank, Oasis International Leasing in Abu Dhabi, Chairman of Avecia (spun off from Astra Zeneca), Chairman of TI Automotive (spun off from Smiths Group), Chairman of Tunstall and Chairman of Arlington Securities. Between 1999 and 2004 he served on the Navy Board. He led the Working Age project in 2000.

He is a current member of the HMRC large business advisory board and is the Queen's Trustee at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.