John Banham

Sir John Michael Middlecott Banham (22 August 1940 – 9 August 2022) was a British businessman. He was the chairman of the major brewer Whitbread from 2000 to 2005, and also chairman of ECI Ventures and Johnson Matthey.

Life and career John Michael Middlecott Banham was born in Torquay, Devon, England on 22 August 1940. He was raised in Cornwall, where his father worked as a surgeon and his mother as a National Health Service (NHS) administrator, and was educated at Charterhouse School, and Queens' College, Cambridge, where he gained a first class degree in Natural Sciences. He worked at the Foreign Office for two years before moving to Reed International and then McKinsey and Co. and was then Director General of the Confederation of British Industry from 1987 to 1992. He was knighted in the 1992 New Year Honours.

Banham was chairman of Tarmac from 1994 to 1999, and the chairman of Kingfisher plc from 1995 to 2001. He became the chairman of Johnson Matthey in April 2006. He has also acted as chairman of West Country Television and as a non-executive director of both National Westminster Bank and National Power. and an honorary fellowship from Queens'. Banham was an active freemason. He was a deputy lieutenant of Cornwall.

Banham died from Alzheimer's disease and Guillain–Barré syndrome at a care home in Penzance, on 9 August 2022, less than two weeks before his 82nd birthday.