Eric Chalker
Eric retired from running his own computer services business in 2001 and that’s when he became an investor in equities, to supplement his pension. He became increasingly angry at the way private shareholders were being treated and first joined the UKSA board in 2009 to do something about it. Before that, in 2008, Eric went to the High Court to challenge in person a takeover by scheme of arrangement and it was there that he learned, directly from the judge, that investors in nominee accounts have no shareholder rights, something Eric has since taken a leading role trying to change.
His investments have grown and now, directly and in ISAs, he has shares in more than 100 companies. He has been to many AGMs, usually to ask challenging questions. He is also not shy in writing to company chairmen when he sees something amiss. For UKSA, Eric has been successively administration director, policy co-ordinator and, until the 2016 AGM, policy director, contributing significantly throughout to much of UKSA’s published material.
There has hardly been a year in Eric’s adult life when he was not carrying at least one responsibility on an unpaid, voluntary basis. Most of this activity was in the Conservative Party, in which he held many prominent positions, most notably in London and nationally but he has also been a borough councillor. He has campaigned ardently for democracy, within the party particularly, but also, in two separate periods, as a council member of the Electoral Reform Society. He has founded two resident-owned management companies and been a director and company secretary of a third, as well as for several years acting and directing in amateur dramatics.
