Stephen Andrew Carter, Baron Carter of Barnes, CBE (born 12 February 1964), is a Scottish businessman and politician.^[1][2] Starting his career as graduate trainee rising to CEO of J Walter Thompson UK & Ireland^[3] and COO of NTL UK & Ireland^[3] (now Virgin Media),^[4] in 2003 Carter became the founding CEO of Ofcom (Office of Communications) in the United Kingdom.^[5] He was subsequently the group CEO of Brunswick Group from 2007^[6] until 2008, when he stepped down to join the administration of Prime Minister Gordon Brown,^[7] Initially serving in 2008 as Brown's chief of strategy, principal advisor,^[1][8] and the Acting Downing Street Chief of Staff,^[8] he was very briefly Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting for 9 months in 2008-9.^[9] Between 2010 and 2013 he held various management positions at Alcatel-Lucent,^[9] and in 2013 he became the group CEO of Informa,^[1] an information and events company.^[10]

Born in Falkirk, Scotland on 12 February 1964,^[3] Stephen Carter grew up in Edinburgh.^[11] His father worked for the logistics company Christian Salvesen, and Carter would often travel to London with his family.^[3] He was educated at Currie High School in Edinburgh.^[10][11] In 1982^[10] he began studying law at the University of Aberdeen,^[3][10] serving as student president in 1985 and 1986. He graduated in 1987^[10] with a Bachelor of Laws,^[3][10] then attended Harvard Business School's^[3][11] six-week advanced management program in 1997.^[10] In 2010 he was awarded an honorary doctorate in law (LLD) by his alma mater, Aberdeen University.^[12]

Carter joined the firm J Walter Thompson (JWT) in 1986^[2] as a graduate trainee,^[2][3] specializing in media and technology.^[11] In 1994 JWT named him managing director^[3] and CEO of J Walter Thompson Company UK & Ireland.^[2][3] He then became JWT's managing director in 1995 and chief executive in 1997.^[13]

In 2000 Carter was appointed the chief operating officer and managing director of UK cable TV company NTL UK & Ireland^[3] (now Virgin Media).^[4] The company was deeply in debt, and Carter helped oversee complete restructuring of the UK & Ireland business.^[3] Given debts of £12 billion^[14] and market conditions, the company was required to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection,^[3] with Carter presiding over the bankruptcy proceedings.^[14] The company was still in Chapter 11^[15] when he left in 2003.^[6] His compensation payoff, rumored to be close to £1.5 million^[3] with a £600,000 bonus,^[15] met with criticism from shareholders,^[3] and in late 2007 the company resolved a class action lawsuit brought by shareholders by paying out $9 million in compensation.^[15]

On 1 March 2003^[13] Carter became the founding CEO of Ofcom (Office of Communications),^[1][3][5] the British government's new media regulator. Among other issues, Carter focused on regulating broadband prices and coordinating regulation of switching from analog to digital television broadcasting.^[3] He also led negotiations with BT on matters such as local loop bundling.^[16] Stepping down from Ofcom in the summer of 2006, he was a part of the capability review team in 2006 and 2007 that reviewed the Department for International Development.^[7]

He briefly became the group chief executive officer of Brunswick Group LLP on 1 March 2007,^[6] in what was a newly created position.^[5][6] He resigned from the role in January 2008 to join the administration of Prime Minister Gordon Brown. At that time, he also stepped down as a commissioner of the UK Commission for Employment & Skills and non-executive director of Royal Mail Holdings and Travis Perkins.^[7]

He was acting chief of strategy and principal advisor for Prime Minister Gordon Brown.^[1][2][7] Serving as Brown's Acting Downing Street Chief of Staff,^[8] he was given responsibility for running political strategy, research, communications,^[7] and the Policy Unit.^[8] Replaced within a year, Carter was subsequently appointed Brown's communications minister in the House of Lords,^[9][17] and in October 2008^[1] he became the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for three departments simultaneously:^[1][11] serving as Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting and heading the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.^[1] Because Carter was not a Member of Parliament having never been elected to public office, it was necessary to appoint him to the House of Lords for the ministerial positions.^[18] He was created Baron Carter of Barnes, of Barnes in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames on 15 October 2008,^[1][19] 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.^[20]

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.^[1] As Minister for Communications, Technology & Broadcasting, he commissioned and helped write The Digital Britain Report policy document, which "set out the groundwork for subsequent policies in areas such as superfast broadband,"^[9] for example the Digital Economy Act 2010.^[21] Carter announced on 11 June 2009 that he would be resigning from his ministerial post^[22] in July 2009,^[1] shortly after the publishing of Digital Britain.^[4][23]

Carter entirely vacated his brief political life, and not voted or spoken in the House of Lords since December 2009.^[24][25]

In April 2010^[26] Carter joined the French-American company Alcatel-Lucent, becoming director of marketing, strategy and communications and relocating from London to Paris.^[16] 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.^[12] Beyond serving as a managing director,^[27] he became the company's president of operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He returned to London and officially retired from Alcatel-Lucent in April 2013, although he continued to work on special projects for the company through that summer.^[9]

Carter was appointed a director of the board of Informa,^[27] an information services group,^[10] in 2010.^[27] In 2013, the Informa board unanimously voted to appoint him as CEO, succeeding Peter Rigby, in July 2013^[27] - a role he assumed in early 2014.^[28] As CEO of the company he maintained the focus on investing in subscriptions, bookings and sponsorship, as well as expanding in international conferences^[4] such as the Monaco Yacht Show.^[28] Under Carter, in 2016 the company acquired the American events company Penton for £1.2 billion.^[4] In January 2018, Informa announced the proposed acquisition of UBM, an events group, for £3.9 billion.^[29] 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.^[30]

Previously serving on the boards of companies such Travis Perkins, Royal Mail, and 2Wire,^[12] he was the chairman of Ashridge Business School^[7] from 2008 until 2015.^[1] Carter became a trustee of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2007,^[1] where he is currently a governor,^[2][7] and he has been a director at Informa since 2010.^[27] As of 2010 he was a vice president of UNICEF,^[12] 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).^[1]

Carter and his wife, Anna, have two children together. His personal interests include running, Chelsea F.C., and the arts.^[2][11]

• Stephen Carter entry at Parliament.uk
• Stephen Carter entry at Informa
• Stephen Carter entry at TheyWorkForYou