Trevor Phillips: Biography

Trevor Phillips is the co-founder of the Equate Organisation, the social change consultancy, and a Director of Pepper Productions, founded in 1995.

Trevor has been a senior executive figure in the TV industry for nearly two decades, serving as Head of Current Affairs for London Weekend Television and Granada TV.

He remains a respected creative leader in the industry as a vice president of the Royal Television Society. He was the longest serving editor and presenter of ITV's award-winning The London Programme; and through Pepper, was the executive producer on Windrush (which won the Royal Television Society Documentary Series of the Year award in 1998), Britain's Slave Trade, Second Chance and When Black Became Beautiful. He won previous awards from the Royal Television Society in 1988 and 1993.

Trevor has been a regular writer and columnist for several of the UK's principal national newspapers, writing for the Guardian, Independent, the Mail, the Telegraph amongst others. He also wrote a weekly columnist for the minority weekly, The Voice.

On 8 September 2006, Trevor was appointed chair of the new Equality and Human Rights Commission. This appointment is made by the Secretary of State for Communities, with the approval of the Prime Minister. The Commission inherited the work of the previous equality commissions on disability, gender and race in October 2007. It also carries responsibility for the new areas of age, religion and belief, sexual orientation, and the promotion of human rights.

Trevor was previously Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) from 1 March 2003. Prior to this he had been elected as a member of the Greater London Authority in May 2000, and became chair of the Assembly later that month.

Born in London in 1953, Trevor attended secondary school in Georgetown, Guyana, and then studied chemistry at Imperial College London. Between 1978 and 1980, he was president of The National Union of Students.

At present, he is a board member of Aldeburgh Productions and The Bernie Grant Centre in Tottenham. He is a patron of The Sickle Cell Society. Between 1993 and 1998 Trevor was chair of the Runnymede Trust. From 1993 to 1997 he was Chair of the London Arts Board.

In addition to many newspaper articles and comment pieces, Trevor has co-written Windrush: The Irresistible Rise of Multiracial Britain (with Mike Phillips), published in 1998, Britain's Slave Trade (with S.I. Martin) published the following year and The Best Intentions (with John Reid) in 2004.

He has lectured in venues as various as the Royal Institution; London, Liverpool and Coventry Cathedrals; and leading universities in the UK, in Europe and North America. He has been an advisor to several major companies on social change and diversity.

Trevor Phillips served as Chair of the Equalities Review between 2005-2007. The Review was commissioned by the Prime Minister to investigate the long-term causes of inequality in the UK and to make recommendations to provide the framework for the Equality Bill to be brought forward in 2008.

In 2007 he received the award of Chevalier de la Legion D'Honneur to add to the OBE he won in 1998. He holds several honorary degrees and fellowships.