In the news: David Currie

The new dean of the City University Business School plans to haul it from the lower ranks of the business school league tables to become one of the world's premier clubs.

Months after defecting from the London Business School, Lord Currie of Marylebone this week celebrated a multimillion-pound gift that could help the school mount its challenge to his former employer.

David Currie spent 12 years at the LBS, becoming professor of economics in 1988 and deputy dean for external relations. During this time, he saw the LBS move into the premier league of world business schools.

Born in south London in 1946, Lord Currie attended Battersea Grammar School. His academic career began with a first in mathematics at the University of Manchester, followed by a masters in national economic planning at the University of Birmingham.

After working in the City for a couple of years, he returned to academia. He said that if he had stayed any longer, he would have been paid so much he would not have been able to leave. In 1972, he became a lecturer at Queen Mary College London, where he produced his PhD thesis.

His main fields of interest are forecasting and macroeconomic policy, in particular European monetary union. A lifelong Labour supporter, he was one of the six so-called wise men who formed the Treasury's panel of independent forecasters from 1992 to 1995, advising the Tory government on economic issues. He was nominated for a peerage by Tony Blair in 1996.

Recently, Lord Currie was involved in the reform of electricity trading and has done consultancy work for energy regulator Ofgem. He is on the board of the Abbey National and is a trustee for the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, which supports activities towards constitutional reform.

His hobbies are music, literature and swimming.