John Egan (industrialist)

Sir John Egan (born 1939) is a British industrialist, associated with businesses in the automotive, airports, construction and water industries. He was chief executive and chairman of Jaguar Cars from 1980 to 1990 and chairman of Jaguar plc from 1985 to 1990, and then served as chief executive of BAA from 1990 to 1999. He is also notable for chairing the construction industry task force that produced the 1998 Egan Report (Rethinking Construction) and the follow-up report, Accelerating Change, in 2002. In 2004, after completing two years as president of the Confederation of British Industry, he was appointed chairman of Severn Trent. He was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in June 1986.

John Egan was born in Rawtenstall, Lancashire, the son of a garage owner. The family moved to Coventry where he went to Bablake School. He studied petroleum engineering at Imperial College London and subsequently from 1962 to 1966 worked for Shell in the Middle East. After further studies, this time at London Business School, he moved to AC Delco in 1968 and then British Leyland where he played a part in boosting the fortunes of its Unipart business.

After a four-year spell as Corporate Parts Director of Massey Ferguson, Egan was appointed chairman of Jaguar Cars in 1980, turning round what had been a struggling business. A carmaker worth around £300m when he took over was sold ten years later to Ford for £1.6bn, at which time Egan moved to become chairman of BAA.

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