Draft:Greg Lock

Greg Lock
Born	(1947-09-05) 5 September 1947 South Wales
Citizenship	British
Education	University of Cambridge (MA)
Occupation	Business executive

Gregory ('Greg') Lock (born 5 September 1947) is a British business executive and non-executive company director. He spent 30 years with IBM, where he held senior international management roles, including global general manager for the Industrial Sector. He has also been involved in educational and charitable activities, particularly through Churchill College, Cambridge, and the Greg and Rosie Lock Foundation.

Biography.

Early life and education

Lock was born in South Wales on 5 September 1947. His father was a primary school teacher who later became a headmaster, and his mother worked as an accounts clerk. He was educated at Tonyrefail Grammar School, where he was head boy and captained the school rugby and cricket teams. He also captained the Pontypridd and District Schools rugby XV. His sister, Barbara, later became head girl at the same school.

In 1966, Lock was admitted to Churchill College, University of Cambridge, becoming the first pupil from his school to acquire a place at Cambridge. He studied natural sciences and graduated with a master of arts. During his time at Cambridge, he represented his college in rugby, cricket, golf, and squash, and participated in productions with the college dramatic society. He played rugby for Cambridge University but did not receive a Blue. He also played first-class rugby for Penarth and toured twice with the Welsh Academicals in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Career

Following Cambridge, Lock joined IBM as a graduate trainee systems engineer. Over a 30-year career, he held roles in engineering, sales, and management. He later became branch manager and, in 1984, assistant to the chairman of IBM Corporation. He subsequently undertook a series of senior international assignments with increasing responsibility. His final role was global general manager for the industrial sector, with worldwide responsibility for IBM’s business with companies in the automotive, aerospace, electronics, chemical, petroleum, and other manufacturing industries. The unit accounted for approximately 15 percent of IBM’s global revenue, or about US$12 billion at the time. He served as a member of the worldwide management council and as a governor of the IBM Academy of Technology. During his career, he lived and worked in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the United States. He retired from IBM in March 2000.

After retirement, Lock pursued a career as a non-executive company director. In 2002, he became executive chairman of Orchestream Holdings and oversaw the sale of the company in 2003. From 2003 to 2007, he served as chairman of SurfControl plc. He was chairman of Computacenter plc for 11 years until 2019, during which time the company’s revenues increased from approximately £2 billion to £4 billion. He was chairman of Kofax plc for seven years until 2015, during which the company moved its listing to Nasdaq and was later sold. He served as a non-executive director of United Business Media (UBM) and became chairman in 2018. Following the acquisition of UBM by Informa in 2019, he became deputy chairman of Informa. In 2020, he was appointed chairman of Micro Focus International plc and oversaw its sale in February 2023.

He has also held roles in education and charitable organisations. In 2002, he served as a director of the UK Institute of Manufacturing. He is a fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge, and has served on its development board for more than 10 years, becoming chairman of the board in the early 2020s. In 2022, he and his wife, Rosie Lock, established the Greg and Rosie Lock Foundation, a charitable trust focused on supporting educational opportunities for less advantaged individuals in science, technology, and sport. The foundation established the Lock bursary scheme at Churchill College and has supported organisations including Chance to Shine, the Welsh Academicals, and the Golf Foundation. In 2025, Greg and Rosie Lock were elected Winston Churchill Fellows at Churchill College and became members of the Cambridge University Guild of Benefactors.

In addition, Lock has been involved in rugby, cricket, and golf throughout his life. He is a member of the Hawks’ Club, the Marylebone Cricket Club, Cambridge University Rugby Union Football Club, the Hurlingham Club, and Royal Porthcawl, Woking, and North Wilts golf clubs. He is a vice president of the Welsh Academicals. He has served as chairman of All Cannings Cricket Club and is a trustee of the All Cannings Community Trust, where he lives. He is a life fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce and a life member of the Royal Institution.