Mark Petterson
The Lord Petterson | |
|---|---|
| Member of the House of Lords | |
| Life peerage 28 August 2026 | |
| Personal details | |
| Party | Liberal Democrats |
Mark Petterson, Baron Petterson (born June 1960) is a British businessman.
Biography
Mark Petterson was born in 1960 and was educated at Alleyne's School in Stevenage and at Imperial College, London.
He became a petroleum engineer with BP, primarily in operational roles in the North Sea. He then had a series of commercial and managerial roles with other companies in the gas industry.
In 1992, Petterson launched the UK's first independent natural gas supplier to the business market, North Sea Gas Limited. He then served as Managing Director for Total Gas Marketing for four years, during which time his team played a leading role in the development of the Network Code, the process that regulates use of the UK gas pipeline system, and the development of competition to supply domestic gas consumers – both innovations being world firsts.
In 2000, he co-founded Warwick Energy Limited, which specialises in project development, particularly offshore wind power,[1] and still serves as a director of the company.
Petterson has been at the forefront of offshore wind development for the past 25 years. His UK projects include Thanet, the largest offshore wind development in the world when it was completed in September 2010. With three projects in operation, he is a leading developer of offshore wind in the UK.
He has been a member of the Liberal Democrats since 2000.
In both the 2023 Cherwell District Council election and the 2024 Cherwell District Council election, Petterson was the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Banbury Ruscote ward.[2] In the 2025 Oxfordshire County Council election, he was again the Liberal Democrat candidate for the same ward.[3]
In the July 2026 political peerages, it was announced that he would be made a life peer and sit in the House of Lords for the Liberal Democrats.[4]
Personal life
Petterson married Vanessa Hall in 1991 and they have two daughters. Hall, who originally trained and worked as a school teacher, is now a professional reflexologist and an accredited T'ai Chi Chih (Moving Neditation) teacher.
The couple have been significant donors to charities involved in tackling youth homelessness for many decades, particularly Centrepoint, and Petterson has been a trustee of Banbury Young Homelessness Project since 2016.[5]
Since 2010, Petterson has been a donor to the Liberal Democrats,[6] and has also donated to a range of charities in the UK, Asia and Africa.
Former Leader of the Liberal Democrats Jo Swinson was criticised for taking donations from him after his involvement in fracking.[7]
References
- ↑ "Five new Lib Dem peers". www.libdems.org.uk. Retrieved 2026-07-17.
- ↑ "Who is standing for elections in the north Oxfordshire area?". Oxford Mail. 2024-04-23. Retrieved 2026-07-17.
- ↑ "Full list of Oxfordshire local election candidates revealed for 2025". Witney Gazette. 2025-04-03. Retrieved 2026-07-17.
- ↑ Watts, Matt (2026-07-16). "Full list of peerages given out as Keir Starmer steps down as PM". The Standard. Retrieved 2026-07-17.
- ↑ "BYHP". www.byhp.org.uk.
- ↑ "Mark Petterson | Political Donor | MPs Funded & Register Entries". The Milton Project. Retrieved 2026-07-17.
- ↑ Ferguson, John (2019-06-09). "Lib Dem leadership hopeful dubbed a 'hypocrite' after accepting fracker's cash". Daily Record. Retrieved 2026-07-17.