Sir David Cecil Clementi (born 25 February 1949) is a British business executive. He is a former deputy governor of the Bank of England, a former chairman of

Prudential plc Prudential plc is a British-domiciled Multinational corporation, multinational insurance and asset management company headquartered in London and Hong Kong. It was founded in London in May 1848 to provide loans to professional and working peop ...

, and a former chairman of the BBC. In March 2008, he was announced as warden of Winchester College and, in 2010, was Master of the Mercers' Company.

Early life

David Cecil Clementi was born on 25 February 1949. His father, Cresswell Clementi, was an air vice-marshal in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

. His grandfather Sir Cecil Clementi was Governor of Hong Kong from 1925 to 1930 and Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Straits Settlements from 1930 to 1934. His great-great-grandfather was Italian-

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

musician Muzio Clementi. His maternal grandfather was Sir Henry Pelham,

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are ...

of the Board of Education from 1931 to 1937. He was educated at Winchester College, where he was captain of athletics and a distinguished footballer. He then went to Lincoln College, Oxford, where he obtained a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics and a

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

for athletics. He was a member of the Great Britain Junior athletics team in 1968. After graduating, he qualified as a chartered accountant. He graduated MBA ( Baker Scholar) from Harvard Business School in 1975.

Career

After graduating from Harvard Business School, Clementi commenced a career in the finance industry. He spent 22 years at investment bank Kleinwort Benson. In 1994, Clementi and Nicholas Redmayne were appointed as joint chief executives of investment banking. His nickname at Kleinwort Benson was "The Duke". Clementi was Deputy Governor of the Bank of England from 1997 to 2002. In December 2002, he became chairman of

, until December 2008. He was chairman of Virgin Money from October 2011 until May 2015. From February 2017 to February 2021, he was Chairman of the BBC. He held a number of other board positions. He was a non-executive director of

Rio Tinto Group Rio Tinto Group is a British-Australian multinational company that is the world's second largest metals and mining corporation (behind BHP). It was founded in 1873 when a group of investors purchased a mine complex on the Río Tinto, in Hu ...

from 2003 to 2010; a Non-Executive Director of Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust from 2008 to 2012; vice-chairman at investment managers, Ruffer LLP from 2011 to 2017; chairman of international payments business World First from 2011 to 2018 and chairman of King's Cross Central, responsible for the regeneration of the King's Cross Estate, from 2008 to 2024. Among non-business interests, he was on the board of The Royal Opera House from 2006 to 2014, Warden (chairman of the governing body) of Winchester College from 2008 to 2014, Master of the Mercers' Company 2010 to 2011, and a trustee of The Royal Society of Medicine from 2010 to 2016. He wrote two reports for

HM Government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

. In July 2003, he was given the task, by the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, of undertaking a wide-ranging independent review of the regulation of legal services in England and Wales, published in December 2004 and known generally as the Clementi report. In September 2015, he was asked by the Secretary of State for the

Department for Culture, Media and Sport The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It holds the responsibility for Culture of the United Kingdom, culture a ...

(DCMS) to write a report on the governance of the BBC, published in March 2016 entitled "A Review of the Governance and Regulation of the BBC". In 2004, Clementi was appointed Knight Bachelor.

Personal life

Clementi married Sarah Louise Cowley, daughter of Dr Anthony Beach Cowley and Mary Mabel Bebington, on 23 September 1972. They have one daughter (Anna Lucy, born 26 November 1976) and one son (Thomas Cowley, born 17 April 1979).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clementi, David 1949 births Living people Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford Prudential plc people Chairmen of the BBC People educated at Winchester College Monetary Policy Committee members Deputy governors of the Bank of England Harvard Business School alumni British people of Italian descent Knights Bachelor BBC Board members Wardens of Winchester College