Chris Banks is Founder of Big Thoughts, the food and drink business he set up to lead a management buy-out from The Coca-Cola Company early in 2001. Big Thoughts focuses on innovation in food and drink, particularly products which are seen as ‘better for you’.

Chris was previously Managing Director of Coca-Cola Great Britain and before that he was with Grand Met (now Diageo), Allied Domecq, HP Bulmer, Mars and ACNielsen. He is a former President of the British Soft Drinks Association.

He is Chairman of Directgov, the Government organisation harnessing digital technology to reform the delivery of public services. Chris is Chair of the Public Chairs’ Forum (PCF), a network for Chairs of public bodies whose aim is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the delivery of public services in the United Kingdom. He is also Deputy Pro-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham.

Chris has recently completed an independent review into fees and co-funding in Further Education. His report makes a series of simple but radical recommendations designed to put the customer at the heart of the Further Education system; free colleges and other training providers from a substantial quantity of unnecessary bureaucracy; and make co-investment between individuals, employers and the state a lasting feature of Further Education in the years to come. 

Chris was a founding member and subsequently Chair of the Learning and Skills Council, responsible for an annual investment of £12.6 Billion of public money in improving the skills of young people and adults in England. He was for many years Deputy Chair of the National Employment Panel, advising Government on Welfare to Work reform, and was author of the influential independent report 'Welfare to Workforce Development' which laid the foundations for the better integration of policies for improving skills and increasing employment.

Chris is a graduate of Birmingham University and has an MBA from Aston. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute; and a Member of the Marketing Society.

Chris was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2004 (Consumer Products, London), in recognition of the success of Big Thoughts and was made a CBE for services to young people and the unemployed in the 2003 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Chris lives in Surrey with his wife and their three teenage children. He is passionately committed to helping all people, whatever their background or circumstances, to achieve their full potential.

September 2010