Sir Victor Blank was educated at Stockport Grammar School and at St Catherine’s College, Oxford where he attained an MA in Modern History. He joined the law firm, Clifford-Turner (now Clifford Chance) and in 1969 he was made a partner of Clifford-Turner. Specialising in corporate law, especially in takeovers and mergers, Victor Blank co-wrote the textbook Weinberg & Blank on Take-overs and Mergers.
In 1981, Victor Blank joined Charterhouse as Head of Corporate Finance and was chairman and chief Executive from 1985 until 1996. Charterhouse was one of the first houses to be involved in the development capital and private equity markets and was very active in the major corporate finance deals of the 1980’s and 1990’s. He was a director of The Royal Bank of Scotland from 1985 to 1993.In 1999 Victor Blank became chairman of Mirror Group Newspapers which merged to become Trinity Mirror plc in 2001. He remained chairman until retiring in 2006. He was chairman of GUS plc (joining the board of the Great Universal Stores plc in 1994) from 2000 until his retirement in October 2006, having completed the demerger of GUS into three separate public companies, Experian, Home Retail Group, and Burberry.
Victor Blank is now chairman of Lloyds TSB Group, having joined the board in March 2006.He was knighted in the New Year’s Honours List in 1999 for services to the financial industry and is a member of the Financial Reporting Council and the CBI Boardroom Issues Group.
Outside business, Victor Blank is actively involved in a number of educational, charitable and communal activities. At the University of Oxford, he is a Trustee of the Said Business School, advisor to the Environmental Change Institute, an Honorary Fellow of St. Catherine’s College and Vice President of Oxford Philomusica. He is also Chairman of Governors of University College School in London and a Governor of Tel Aviv University. His charitable interests include Wellbeing of Women, (the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ health research charity) and UJS/Hillel, both of which he chairs, and membership of the Advisory Board of the United Jewish Israel Appeal. He is also a member of the Advisory Council of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.There are many ways you can donate to Wellbeing of Women. Your donation will help us continue to fund research into all aspects of reproductive health.
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