Board of directors

Jacob Rothschild began his career at N M Rothschild & Sons, where he subsequently ran the corporate finance department and became chairman of the executive committee. From 1980 he has developed RIT plc, a forerunner of RIT Capital Partners plc, and his interests in the financial sector. In addition to his career in finance, he has been involved in public service, including the arts and heritage fields, and philanthropy.

Appointed as Investment Director of the Company in 2008 having been a non-executive Director since 1998. Since 1994 he has been the principal investment adviser to philanthropic foundations connected with Lord Rothschild's family interests. Prior to this, he spent eight years at Mercury Asset Management Group plc as an investment manager, including a period of secondment to Odyssey Partners L.P. in New York.

Appointed an executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Company in 1995. He has been a director of J. Rothschild Capital Management Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of RIT Capital Partners plc, since 1988 and has represented the Company on the boards of a number of its investments. Prior to this, he spent six years with Lazard Brothers & Co. Ltd.

Formerly a senior partner at Deloitte LLP, leading the firm's services to the investment trust industry for over 15 years. He was appointed in January 2008 as a non-executive Director of RIT Capital Partners plc and is Chairman of the Audit and Valuations Committees. He also sits on the Company's Conflicts and Remuneration Committees. He is the Chairman of Framlington Innovative Growth Trust plc and also a director of Henderson Eurotrust plc, RCM Technology Trust plc and Strategic Equity Capital plc.

Lord Douro stood for election as a non-executive Director at the 2010 Annual General Meeting. He has broad experience in banking and finance, having served as Chairman of Sun Life and Provincial Holdings from 1995 to 2000 and of the Framlington Group from 1994 to 2005. He is currently a director of Sanofi-Aventis, Pernod-Ricard and Abengoa Bio Energia, Chairman of Richemont Holdings (UK) Limited and is a senior advisor to the Credit Agricole Group. He was a member of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1989.

Lord Douro chairs the Company's Conflicts and Remuneration committees and is a member of the Nominations Committee.

Mr. Elkann was appointed as a non-executive Director in March 2007. He is Chairman of Fiat Group and Chairman of Exor SpA and Itedi (publisher of La Stampa), and a director of RCS Mediagroup, Banca Leonardo and The Economist. Mr. Elkann is a graduate of the Engineering University of Turin.

Mr Leigh-Pemberton was appointed as a non-executive Director in 2004. He has worked at Credit Suisse since 1994, holding positions as Head of Equity Syndicate, Head of Equity Capital Markets and from 2001 to 2004, Head of European Investment Banking. He is currently Chief Executive Officer of Credit Suisse, UK. Mr Leigh-Pemberton began his career at S.G. Warburg & Co., where he worked for fifteen years. He is a member of the Company's Audit, Conflicts, Nominations and Remuneration Committees.

He is the Chairman of NewSmith Capital Partners LLP, which he founded in 2003. He was formerly co-Head of the Global Equities business of Merrill Lynch, which he joined in 1995, and where he subsequently held positions as Chief Operating Officer of Merrill Lynch Europe, Middle East and Africa and was subsequently named Executive Chairman. He was also Executive Vice President of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. He was appointed as a non-executive Director of RIT Capital Partners plc in 2004 and its Senior Independant Director in 2010. He sits on the Company's Conflicts, Nomination and Remuneration Committees.

Ms Robertson was appointed to the Board in July 2008 and also serves on the Board's Valuations Committee. She is the Chief Investment Officer of Oxford University Endowment Management. Before her appointment at Oxford in 2007, she spent the previous the 14 years at Wellcome Trust, where she became the co-Head of Portfolio Management.