He served as senior independent non-executive director at Corporate Services Group Plc, a recruitment and employment agency, from December 2000 to 9 June 2006. and as a non-executive director of Dixons Group, a consumer electronics retailer, from 2000 to 2003 He was appointed non-executive director at SEGRO Plc, a property investment and development company which later became a real estate investment trust (REIT), from 1 April 2001 to 29 April 2010 and was senior independent director from 2005 Blackwell became non-executive chairman of Smartstream Technologies Ltd, a financial transaction management business, in 2001 a position he held until 2005 He served as a non-executive director of Standard Life Plc from 6 June 2003 to 25 May 2012. and as senior independent director from 2008 until May 2012.