Maarten van den Bergh, the Dutchman named by The Times as the most powerful figure in British business last year, is tipped to be appointed deputy chairman of BT, a role that will see him lead the hunt for a successor to Sir Christopher Bland, the group’s chairman.
Mr van den Bergh, a former chairman of Lloyds TSB, would succeed Sir Anthony Greener, BT’s current deputy chairman.
The 64-year-old Dutchman will remain non-executive director of British Airways and Royal Dutch Shell and a member of the supervisory board of Akzo Nobel, the Dutch chemicals group.
Born in New York in 1942, Mr van den Bergh is the grandson of a margarine magnate, whose company became part of Unilever in 1927. He spent most of his career in the oil industry, working for Shell for 32 years before becoming its group managing director in 1992.
His subsequent non-executive roles at UK companies saw him top The Times Power 100 list of the most influential FTSE directors last year. Asked about his management style, he told The Times recently: “I am very hands-off. I have an open-door policy.”
Mr van den Bergh, the father of two daughters, speaks English, German, Japanese and Spanish.
INGRID MANSELL
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
