John Parker (businessman)
Sir Thomas John Parker (born 8 April 1942) is a British businessman. He is chairman of Laing O'Rourke and former chairman of Pennon Group, a director of Carnival Corporation & plc and lead non-executive director at the Cabinet Office. He has been a director or chairman of numerous other public companies including Airbus, Anglo American plc, Babcock International, British Gas, DP World, Lattice Group, National Grid plc and Ombu Group. He is a past President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, patron at the Centre for Process Innovation and a Visiting Fellow of the University of Oxford. Early life Parker was born into a farming family in County Down, Northern Ireland. He attended Belfast College of Technology (since 1991 called Belfast Metropolitan College). In 1958, at age 17, he joined Harland and Wolff as an apprentice naval architect (engineer). At Queen's University Belfast he was awarded an Honorary DSc degree in Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture. Career 1958–1963 Apprenticeship at Harland & Wolff 1963–1974 Member of ship design team at Harland & Wolff 1974–1978 Managing Director of Austin & Pickersgill 1978–1983 Deputy Chief Executive of board of the British Shipbuilders Corporation 1983–1993 Chairman and Chief Executive of Harland and Wolff