Job: founder and chairman, Brunswick Group
Age: 56
Industry: public relations
2011 ranking: 65
Alan Parker's Brunswick is the City's biggest PR group. Dubbed the godfather of modern financial public relations, Parker is close to both Labour and the Conservatives – David Cameron was a guest at his wedding in 2007.
A one-time oil rig worker and rock band manager, Parker founded Brunswick in 1987. Unlike his longstanding rival, Finsbury co-founder Roland Rudd, Parker eschews the limelight.
A 50% stakeholder in Brunswick, Parker handed 40% of the company's equity to its 90 partners in an overhaul of its management structure.
He also took on an "increasingly external and client facing role" after the company's US managing partner, Susan Gilchrist, was named as its new chief executive earlier this year, a job once held by the former Ofcom boss Stephen Carter.
Parker is chairman of Save the Children UK.
