Jim O'Neill, Baron O'Neill of Gatley facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
The Lord O'Neill of Gatley
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O'Neill in 2020
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| Commercial Secretary to the Treasury | |
| In office 14 May 2015 – 23 September 2016 |
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| Prime Minister | David Cameron Theresa May |
| Chancellor | George Osborne Philip Hammond |
| Preceded by | The Lord Deighton |
| Succeeded by | The Baroness Neville-Rolfe |
| Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal |
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| Assumed office 28 May 2015 Life Peerage |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Terence James O'Neill
17 March 1957 Manchester, England |
| Political party | None (Crossbencher) (since 2017) |
| Other political affiliations |
Non-affiliated (2016–2017) Conservative (2015–2016) |
| Spouse | Married |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | University of Sheffield University of Surrey |
| Known for | BRIC economics term |
Terence James O'Neill, Baron O'Neill of Gatley (born 17 March 1957) is a British economist. An economist studies how money, industries, and trade work. He is famous for creating the term "BRIC." This word stands for four countries: Brazil, Russia, India, and China.
Lord O'Neill believed these countries would become very important in the world economy. He thought they would challenge the economic power of richer countries like the G7 nations. He also used to be a leader at Goldman Sachs, a big financial company. Later, he worked as a government minister for the Conservative party.
From May 2015 to September 2016, O'Neill was the Commercial Secretary to the Treasury. This role meant he helped manage the UK's money and economy. He also led a special review from 2014 to 2016 about how to fight against "superbugs." These are germs that medicines can't easily kill.
Contents
His Early Life and Education
Terence O'Neill grew up in a place called Gatley in England. He went to Burnage High School for Boys, which was a public school. He loved learning about economics.
- In 1977, he earned his first degree in economics from Sheffield University.
- He got a master's degree in economics from the same university in 1978.
- In 1982, he earned his PhD, which is the highest university degree, from the University of Surrey. His research was about oil money.
- More recently, in January 2024, he received an honorary degree from the University of Hull. This means the university recognized his important work.
His Career Journey
Lord O'Neill started his career working at banks. He worked at Bank of America and Marine Midland Bank. In 1988, he joined Swiss Bank Corporation. There, he became the head of global research. This meant he led studies on how economies around the world were doing.
Working at Goldman Sachs
In 1997, O'Neill joined Goldman Sachs, a very large investment bank. By 2001, he was leading their global economics research. He studied economic trends worldwide.
In 2010, he became the head of Goldman Sachs's Asset Management division. He was in charge of managing over $800 billion for clients. This was a big deal because Goldman Sachs believed that "emerging markets" were the future. Emerging markets are countries whose economies are growing quickly.
In 2011, a magazine called Bloomberg Markets named him one of the "50 Most Influential" people.
Coining Economic Terms
In 2001, O'Neill created the famous term "BRIC." He used it to describe Brazil, Russia, India, and China. He believed these four countries would become major economic powers.
He also created other terms for groups of growing economies:
- The "Next Eleven" (or N-11) included countries like Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Mexico, and Turkey. He thought these would also become big economies.
- In 2011, he started using "growth markets" instead of "emerging markets." He highlighted Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, and Turkey. The media called this group "MIST."
- In 2013, he helped popularize "MINT" for Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey. He retired from Goldman Sachs in 2013.
Other Important Work
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Lord O'Neill was a founding member of Bruegel, a think tank that studies economic policy. In 2014, the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, asked him to lead a global project. This project looked into how to fight antimicrobial resistance, which is when germs become resistant to medicines.
In 2018, Lord O'Neill wrote a book called Superbugs: An Arms Race Against Bacteria. It was about the fight against these resistant germs.
His Time in the House of Lords
In 2015, Terence O'Neill was given a special title: Baron O'Neill of Gatley. This made him a Life Peer, which means he became a member of the House of Lords. The House of Lords is part of the UK Parliament. He took on an unpaid job in the government as the Commercial Secretary to the Treasury.
In this role, he worked on a project called the Northern Powerhouse. This project aimed to improve the economy in the north of England. He also worked to boost trade between the UK and China.
When David Cameron stopped being Prime Minister, Theresa May took over. She kept O'Neill in his role. However, in 2016, he resigned. He was worried that Theresa May was not fully committed to the Northern Powerhouse project. He was the first minister to resign from her government.
After leaving the Conservative Party, he became a "non-affiliated" member of the House of Lords. Since October 2017, he has been a "crossbencher." Crossbenchers are members of the House of Lords who do not belong to a political party.
Personal Interests
Lord O'Neill is a big fan of football. He even played for the Bank of America's team in London. He has always supported Manchester United F.C., a famous football club. He was a non-executive director for the club from 2004 to 2005.
In 2010, a group of wealthy Manchester United fans, thought to include O'Neill, showed interest in buying the club.
He has received several honorary degrees from universities. These include degrees from the University of Sheffield, the Institute of Education of the University of London, and City University London.
