Stephen Carter, Baron Carter of Barnes

Stephen Andrew Carter, Baron Carter of Barnes, (born 12 February 1964), is a Scottish businessman and politician.

Early life and education Born in Falkirk, Scotland on 12 February 1964, His father worked for the logistics company Christian Salvesen, and Carter would often travel to London with his family.

Career JWT and NTL Carter joined the firm J Walter Thompson (JWT) in 1986 The company was still in Chapter 11

Ofcom and Brunswick On 1 March 2003 Carter became the founding CEO of Ofcom (Office of Communications), in what was a newly created position. he was given responsibility for running political strategy, research, communications, and the Policy Unit. and in October 2008 He was created Baron Carter of Barnes, of Barnes in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames on 15 October 2008, introduced to the House of Lords by Lord Currie and Lord Puttnam. He served in the House of Lords on the front bench in his capacity as Minister.

In June 2009 he was again appointed but almost immediately resigned as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for three departments: the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and the Department for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting. Carter announced on 11 June 2009 that he would be resigning from his ministerial post in July 2009,

Carter entirely vacated his brief political life, and not voted or spoken in the House of Lords since December 2009. He retired from the Lords on 28 March 2025.

Alcatel In April 2010 Carter joined the French-American company Alcatel-Lucent, becoming director of marketing, strategy and communications and relocating from London to Paris. This was a private profit role that benefitted from his previous regulatory and ministerial roles. His official titles as of 2010 were executive vice president and chief strategy & marketing officer.

Informa Carter was appointed a director of the board of Informa, - a role he assumed in early 2014. such as the Monaco Yacht Show. Under Carter, in 2016 the company acquired the American events company Penton for £1.2 billion. Carter, who became chief executive of the combined group, said at that point that he would retain the other parts of Informa, including business intelligence and its academic publishing business Taylor & Francis.

Boards and committees Previously serving on the boards of companies such Travis Perkins, Royal Mail, and 2Wire, he was the chairman of Ashridge Business School from 2008 until 2015. Carter became a trustee of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2007, where he is currently a governor, and he has been a director at Informa since 2010. As of 2010 he was a vice president of UNICEF, and that year UNICEF UK granted him an honorary fellowship, with Carter becoming a trustee. After becoming a director at United Utilities Group in 2014, he became chairman of the company's corporate responsibility committee in 2016. In 2017 he was named a director for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Personal life Carter and his wife, Anna, have two children together. His personal interests include running, Chelsea F.C., and the arts.