16 Facts About Denys Henderson

Sir Denys Hartley Henderson was a British businessman.

Denys Henderson was chairman of ICI from 1987 to 1995.

The family returned to Scotland and Denys Henderson went to school in Aberdeen and graduated from the University of Aberdeen in 1955 in Arts and Law with an MA and an LL.

Denys Henderson trained as a solicitor but never practised at a law firm.

Denys Henderson says that it was his National Service that finally convinced him to use his legal training, by showing him a side of the law which he could never aspire to in civvy street.

Denys Henderson was a captain in the directorate of army legal services and for 18 months acted as a prosecuting attorney handling everything from fraud, assault and attempted murder to what he has described, with great delicacy, as "various unnatural offences".

Denys Henderson joined the main ICI board in 1980 and was appointed deputy chairman in 1986, succeeding Sir John Harvey-Jones as chairman a year later.

Denys Henderson was instrumental in implementing a major streamlining of ICI to help it ride out the recession and face up to the tough competition of the 1990s, including a severe belt tightening and decentralised organisation with a lot of authority delegated to the chief executives who ran the individual businesses.

In recognition of his service to not only his business but his country, Denys Henderson was created a Knight Bachelor in the 1989 Birthday Honours.

Denys Henderson was in charge when ICI split in two in June 1993 to create Zeneca.

Denys Henderson said "the demerger will produce two powerful, focused new companies able to concentrate even more on strengthening their leading positions in world markets".

Denys Henderson was chairman of the Zeneca Group from 1993 until 1995.

Denys Henderson was awarded an honorary doctorate in law in 1993 by the University of Bath.

In March 1995 Denys Henderson was appointed chairman of Rank Organisation a position he held until he retired at the April 2001 AGM.

Denys Henderson was appointed to the Greenbury committee in 1995, which reported on the topic of executive remuneration.

Denys Henderson was appointed a non-executive director of AZ Electronic Materials by The Carlyle Group following its acquisition of the company in 2004.