David Cooksey

Who is David Cooksey?

Sir David James Scott Cooksey, GBE is a British businessman, venture capitalist and policy advisor.

David Cooksey gained a degree in metallurgy at St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford. He embarked on a career as an industrial engineer, rising through the management of the company Formica International, and finally leading the management buy-out of a subsidiary in 1971.

In 1981 he formed Advent Venture Partners, one of the first venture capital firms in the United Kingdom, which provided financing for technology-based businesses. He remained chairman until September 2006. He was the first chairman of the British Venture Capital Association and chairman of the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.

Cooksey was chairman of the Audit Commission from 1986 to 1995 and in 1996 as chairman of the Local Government Commission for England, proposed the introduction of unitary authorities in many areas of England. In 2003 Cooksey was appointed to chair the Biosciences Industry Growth Taskforce by HM Treasury and the DTI and issued the report "Biosciences 2015" that year. He revised and reissued the report in 2009. In 2006 he published the Cooksey Review of UK health research for HM Treasury which led to a new funding structure and approach to medical research in the UK. It also paved the way to new approaches to pharmaceutical licencing.