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.

Mr Rothschild was appointed as a non-executive Director in 2004. He is the Co-chairman of Atticus Capital LP, an international investment management firm established in 1995. Atticus has offices in New York and London. Mr Rothschild is a Director of The Rothschild Foundation. Mr Rothschild is a member of the Belfer Center's International Council at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and the International Advisory Council of the Brookings Institute. He was nominated as a "Young Global Leader" by the World Economic Forum in 2005.

A chartered accountant; appointed a non-executive Director in 1988. He is the Senior Independent Director and Chairman of the Remuneration & Conflicts, and Valuation Committees, as well as a member of the Audit and Nominations Committee. He is also a director of General Oriental Investments Limited, Angofagasta plc.

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 Committee. He also sits on the Company's Remuneration & Conflicts and Valuation 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.

Mr. Elkann was appointed as a non-executive Director in March 2007. He is Vice Chairman of Fiat Group and Chairman of Exor SpA (previously IFIL Investments Spa) and Itedi (publisher of La Stampa), and a director of RCS Mediagroup and Banca Leonardo. 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 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. Mr Marks began his career at Smith Bros. in 1958, where he became a director in 1975 and Chief Executive of Smith New Court in 1987. He was a non-executive director of Old Mutual plc from February 2004 to May 2007 and a non-executive director of London Stock Exchange plc until 2004. He was appointed as a non-executive Director of RIT Capital Partners plc in 2004.

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.

Mr Wace joined the board in July 2008 as a non-executive Director. He is the co-founder of the hedge fund manager, Marshall Wace. Prior to forming Marshall Wace in 1997, Ian was Global Head of Equity and Derivative Trading at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell.