Europe Team

Peter Butler (CEO) became a founder partner of Governance for Owners (GO) in November 2004. From 1996 to 2004 Peter was responsible for building the highly respected Corporate Focus and Focus Fund teams at Hermes Pensions Management Limited in London. Hermes is the in-house fund manager of BT Pension Scheme which is the largest pension fund in the UK. During this period he established the largest corporate governance team in the world – some 45 people working on 2,500 stocks across all major global markets– and developed the concept of the Hermes Focus Funds, the first institutionally-owned fund to invest in underperforming companies across Europe and employ relational shareholder engagement techniques to add value to the fund. Under Peter’s leadership the Hermes Focus Funds grew to over £1.5 billion of funds under management from c40 major institutional clients in Europe, North America and Japan and achieved substantial out-performance against benchmarks.

Peter had over 20 years’ global experience in a wide range of industries as a senior executive before joining Hermes, and for seven years was a director of public companies in both executive and non-executive positions. As CFO he steered Berisford International, a UK based conglomerate with £1.9 billion of turnover, through two difficult years of crisis management and work-out under refinancing agreements when 68 banks called a standstill on over £1.4 billion of debt. As Finance Director of British Sugar plc he led a team of 170 and introduced radical changes which doubled annual profits to over £100m. His early career was spent at global accountants Touche Ross & Co and BOC Group plc in the oilfield services and welding industries.

Peter is at the forefront of the global debate on the development of corporate governance, is a past board member of the International Corporate Governance Network (and still serves on several sub-committees). He frequently participates in seminars at INSEAD, Yale School of Management, Henley Management College and Cranfield University School of Management as well as speaking at conferences from New York to New Zealand via Tokyo and Bangkok. 

He is Chairman of Essex & Southend Sports Trust, a member of the General Committee of Essex County Cricket Club and Chairman of the Essex Ford Southend Cricket Festival. He is an avid follower of Southend United Football Club and still plays occasional veterans football and cricket.