Ken Hydon
Kenneth John Hydon FCMA, FCCA, FCT (born November 1944) is a British accountant who is a non-executive director of two FTSE 100 companies: RB (Reckitt Benckiser) and Merlin Entertainments Group and was formerly the financial director of Vodafone. He was also a non-executive director of Tesco, Pearson and the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, an acute general hospital in the UK.
Education
Ken is a Fellow of the: Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) [1] Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) [2] Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT) [3]
Career
Vodafone
Ken Hydon was among the cabal [4] that included Sir Christopher Gent and Sir Julian Horn-Smith who transformed Vodafone from a small subsidiary of Racal Electronics to one of the top 25 companies in the world. He was financial director of Vodafone from 1985 until he retired in 2005. He was closely involved in Vodafone's major transactions including the formation of Vodafone AirTouch in 1999 and the agreement to acquire Mannesmann in 2000. He was a member of the Board of Representatives of Verizon Wireless in the USA from 2000 until he retired in 2005.[5] He previously joined Racal Electronics in 1977 and was financial director of several Racal subsidiaries.
RB (Reckitt Benckiser)
Ken was appointed as a non-executive director of RB (Reckitt Benckiser) in 2003.[6]
Tesco
Ken was appointed a Non-executive Director in 2004 [7] and retired in 2013 [8]
Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust
Ken joined the board as a non executive director in 2005 and retired in 2012[9]
Pearson
Ken became a non-executive director of Pearson in February 2006 [10] and retired in 2015. [11]
Merlin Entertainments
Ken became a non-executive director of Merlin Entertainments in October 2013.[12]
Personal life
He is widowed with a son and a daughter.