John Browne, Baron Browne of Madingley

John Browne, Baron Browne of Madingley (born Hamburg, 1948) is a gay British businessman, formerly Chief Executive of BP.

He was born Hamburg, Germany, and educated at the King's School, Ely, and St John's College, Cambridge, where he got a first in physics.

In 1966, while still at Cambridge, he joined BP (then the British Petroleum Company) as an apprentice. He worked for the company throughout his career, rising to Chief Executive in 1998. In 1998 he was knighted, and in 2001 he was appointed by the House of Lords Appointments Commission as one of the new "people's peers".

In 2007 he resigned from BP amid a controversy, prompted by an article in the Mail on Sunday about his relationship with a former partner, the Canadian Jeff Chevalier. He has since described the tensions that were caused throughout his career by the need to hide his sexual orientation.

He is listed number 36 in the Independent on Sunday 's Pink List 2011, 69 in the World Pride Power List 2012 and 50 in the World Pride Power List 2013.