Lord Levene is chairman of Starr Underwriting Agents Limited. Previously, he served as chairman of the
Lloyd's of London insurance and reinsurance market from 2002 to 2011, after having been vice chairman of
Deutsche Bank. Prior to this, he held the position of chairman of
Bankers Trust International and was formerly with both
Morgan Stanley and
Wasserstein Perella. He joined
United Scientific Holdings in 1963, a small company which grew into a substantial supplier to UK and overseas Ministries of Defence. He eventually rose to the post of chairman of that group, in 1981. Subsequently, he was asked by the then
Secretary of State for Defence,
Michael Heseltine, to act as his Personal Advisor in the
MoD, and then as Permanent Secretary in the role of
Chief of Defence Procurement, a position which he held for six years. As UK National Armaments Director, he was appointed as chairman of the European National Armaments Directors 1989–1990. He thereafter held a number of Government posts, as Advisor to the
Secretary of State for the Environment; to the
President of the Board of Trade; and to the
Chancellor of the Exchequer. He was appointed as Advisor to the Prime Minister (
John Major) on Efficiency and Effectiveness from 1992 to 1997, producing a report,
Efficiency Scrutiny into Construction Procurement by Government. in 1996. During this period, he also served as chairman of the
Docklands Light Railway and then chairman and Chief Executive of
Canary Wharf Ltd. He served as a member of the Board of Directors of
J Sainsbury plc from 2001 to 2004, and of
Total S.A., from 2005 to 2011, and was chairman of General Dynamics UK Ltd until 2019. and was created a
life peer on 22 July 1997 as
Baron Levene of Portsoken, of Portsoken in the City of London. He sat as a
crossbencher in the
House of Lords until his retirement on 28 November 2024. Levene has held three other non-executive directorships in addition to Starr underwriting, as chairman of Tikehau Capital Europe Ltd, and on the boards of
Haymarket Media Group, and
China Construction Bank. He is a member of the House of Lords Finance Committee and was also a member of the Joint Committee on National Security Strategy. He was appointed by the Secretary of State for Defence in July 2010 to chair the
Defence Reform Group, a body set up to review proposals for changes in structure in the UK Ministry of Defence. This body reported in June 2011 and their recommendations are now being implemented. He speaks French, German and Italian. ==Family==