It is one year since Sir John Bond, the former HSBC chairman, swapped one of the most high-profile roles in corporate Britain for another, as chairman of Vodafone.

Yesterday, leading his first annual meeting of the mobile giant, the “new boy”, as Sir John referred to himself, paid tribute to his predecessors in making Vodafone such a colossal force.

However, his own achievements in the past 12 months have been significant, too. The 66-year-old, who joined the HSBC group aged 20 at a local Hong Kong bank, played a critical role in quelling last year’s investor revolt against Vodafone and its chief executive, Arun Sarin.

On the day that Sir John was appointed, Mr Sarin endured one of the biggest protest votes against a FTSE 100 head, with more than 15 per cent of votes cast failing to support his re-election.

However, Sir John’s discreet and persuasive talks with key investors in the City helped to shift sentiment back in favour of the mobile phone group and behind its Indian-American head. Since last year’s meeting, shares in Vodafone have risen by 37 per cent, from 115p to 157p.

Sir John, who made his way to his first Hong Kong posting with HSBC from the United States by working as a deck hand on a cargo ship, was also a driving force in pulling off Vodafone’s $11.1 billion (£5.4 billion) deal in India, to acquire Hutchison Essar, the country’s fourth-biggest mobile operator.

The former banker, who has served as a director on the Court of the Bank of England and a director of the London Stock Exchange, has preferred to work behind the scenes at Vodafone.

Yesterday’s impassioned defence of the board’s decision to reject the propositions of ECS, the activist shareholder, was the first time that he had spoken at length in public as Vodafone chairman.

Sir John, who was educated at Tonbridge School, Kent, and at Cate School, California, is married with three children. His hobbies include golf and skiing. He works for educational charities in his spare time.

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