Graham Howe www.grahamhowe.com
I was the co-founder of Orange, having teamed up with Hans Snook in 1992. Orange launched in April 1994. In June 1996, Orange became the youngest company ever to enter the FTSE 100 and at the age of 34 I became one of the youngest ever FTSE 100 Finance Directors.
In 1998 I moved into general management and as Deputy Chief Executive, I saw Orange become Europe's second largest operator as well as overtaking Vodafone as the UK's most popular wirefree operator. Orange was acquired by France Telecom for approximately Euro 50bn in May 2000.
I decided to leave in 2003 after Michel Bon stood down from the head of France Telecom. It was a fantastic team who created Orange but sadly today all have moved on to new challenges.
I have always been inspired where I see technology meet a human need and more recently I became Chairman of Promethean (an interactive whiteboard company). Interactive whiteboards are now in approximately 30% of UK class rooms and may well become ubiquitious over time. The UK leads the world in this area and momentum is starting to build internationally.
I am also the senior independent director of Cable & Wireless plc.
I am 44 years of age. I am marrried to Jane and we have three children; Thomas, Jack, and George.
After I left Orange where I worked flat out for over 11 years, I decided to spend more time with my family and enjoy my kids while they still think dads are cool (too late!).
I also wanted to prove to myself that I was capable of getting fit for the first time in my life and I set about a number of personal challenges which I combined with raising funds for a worthwhile cause.
The first was an Orange sponsored Coast to Coast cycle ride in 2002 which raised around £150k for the National Children's Home.
In 2003 I teamed up with four friends to cycle from Land's End to John O'Groats raising over £40k for the Royal National Institute for the Blind & the British Deaf Association and last year I raised over £40k by running the New York Marathon with my wife Jane in aid of the British Red Cross Caribbean Recovery Appeal sponsored by Cable & Wireless plc.
This is the fourth and most ambitious charity challenge that I have been involved with to date.
I knew that David had been trying to get a Group of people together for some time and I let him twist my arm to complete the team of eight.
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