Gent and Matthews have a Knight to remember

NEWS Vodafone chief executive Chris Gent and serial entrepreneur Terry Matthews have both received Knighthoods in this summer's birthday honours list. 53-year-old Gent is credited with building Vodafone from an offshoot of electronics and defence company Racal into the largest company on the London Stock Exchange with interests across the globe. His biggest coup was last year's takeover of Mannesmann, earning the Vodafone group a toe-hold in the vital German mobile phone market and giving Gent a controversial £10m bonus. The move came less than a year after the acquisition of AirTouch - the largest transatlantic takeover in history. Gent is a former chairman of the Young Conservatives, and is a passionate cricket fan. 57-year-old Sir Terence Hedley Matthews, as he is now known, is often referred to as 'Wales' first billionaire'. He began his career selling lawnmowers, before founding the telephone equipment company Mitel in 1972, which he sold to British Telecom in 1985 and repurchased earlier this year. A golf enthusiast, Matthews is renowned for his salesmanship and his hands-on management style. Valued as one of the five richest people in the UK, he is also the largest individual shareholder in Alcatel following the French telecoms giant's purchase of Newbridge Networks. He was awarded a gong "for services to industry and to Wales". Outgoing Reuters chief executive Peter Job has also been knighted and reclusive IBM chief executive Lou Gerstner also picked up an honorary Knighthood.