
Much of Hugh’s working life has been with BT, where he was at various times chief of staff to the chairman and the chief executive, a board member of Portugal Telecom, and responsible for managing BT’s relationships with its commercial partners in Europe, Asia Pacific and South America.
Hugh’s early career took him via a communications consultancy to public relations for a shipping and logistics company, and then to corporate banking and investor relations. In the early 1990’s he served as a private secretary to The Prince of Wales, responsible among other things for HRH’s contact with industry, and he was a member of the Duchy Originals board.
He is a Vice President of Autistica which raises awareness and funds for medical research into autism, a Vice President of British Youth Opera which helps young singers make the transition from music college into the profession, an Ambassador for The Clink which trains prisoners with kitchen and front of house skills with restaurants in UK prisons and was Chairman of FutureStart which, with The Prince’s Trust, has established a £3.5m fund to provide loans to help disadvantaged young people in the West Midlands to set up in business.