Stephen Hester

Sir Stephen Alan Michael Hester (born 14 December 1960)^[2] is a British businessman and former banker. He is chairman of Nordea Bank and easyJet, and the former chief executive of RSA Insurance Group and British Land.^[3]

Hester is the eldest son of Ronald, a chemistry professor at the University of York, and Dr Bridget Hester, a psychotherapist.^{[citation needed]} He was born in Ithaca, NY, US but grew up primarily in the village of Crayke in North Yorkshire.^{[citation needed]} He was educated at Easingwold School in North Yorkshire, a rural comprehensive school, and at Oxford where he studied at Lady Margaret Hall, and after chairing the Tory Reform Group, graduated with a first class honours degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.^[3]

Hester has had an extensive business career including holding the chief executive position at three FTSE 100 companies over a 17 year period.^{[citation needed]} He began his career in 1982 with investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston, where he started in corporate finance and then served a year as the chairman's assistant.^[3] He was appointed a director in 1987 and a managing director in 1988 aged 27.^{[citation needed]} Following stints as co-head European M&A and investment banking, in 1996 he was appointed to the Executive Board. Hester held the position of Chief Financial Officer and Head of Support Division, until May 2000.^{[citation needed]} From May 2000 to September 2001, he was Global Head of the Fixed Income Division.^{[citation needed]}

In May 2002, he joined Abbey National as Finance Director.^{[citation needed]} The bank had significant financial problems stemming from its wholesale and life insurance activities.^{[citation needed]} As part of its significant restructuring , he was given additional responsibilities as Chief Operating Officer for the wholesale and insurance arms of the bank as well as its support functions.^{[citation needed]} The restructuring was successful and in 2004 the bank was sold at a significant gain to shareholders to Santander.^{[citation needed]}

In November 2004, Hester was appointed chief executive British Land succeeding Sir John Ritblat, the company’s founder.^{[citation needed]}

Hester was appointed non-executive deputy chairman Northern Rock by Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling in March 2008, a role which he resigned from in September 2008 to take a non-executive position on the board of Royal Bank of Scotland.^[4][5]

In October 2008, RBS , then the biggest bank in the world by assets, fell victim to the global financial crisis and needed recapitalisation by the UK Government.^{[citation needed]} As part of that change, Hester was asked to leave British Land and replace Fred Goodwin as Chief Executive of the RBS Group.^{[citation needed]}

The ensuing five years were ones of intense restructuring of RBS. Assets were reduced by some £720 billion and costs by c£4.2 billion.^{[citation needed]} The task had been likened to defusing a financial bomb.^{[citation needed]} In addition to restoring financial health the share price of RBS which had troughed at 90p equivalent, rose to 330p by the time he left the bank.^{[citation needed]}

Hester was paid an annual salary of £1.1 million by RBS.^[6] In 2012 he was offered a bonus of just under £1 million, but following some considerable pressure from politicians and the public, he declined the bonus.^[7] Later in 2012, in June, he declined his bonus for the following year after RBS's computer problems.^[8]

In June 2013 Royal Bank of Scotland announced that Hester would be stepping down as CEO in December 2013, after five years with the bank.^{[citation needed]}

On 4 February 2014, Hester joined RSA Insurance Group, the FTSE100 insurer, as CEO.^{[citation needed]} The company was also experiencing a financial crisis and Hester led significant restructuring efforts, streamlining and focusing the business, raising £750 million in a rights issue and changing management whilst cutting costs.^{[citation needed]} The insurer responded well to these changes with substantial increases in earnings, dividends and share price.^{[citation needed]} The Company accepted an all cash bid worth £7.2 bn in June 2021 from Intact of Canada and Tryg of Denmark. The 52% premium was a record for the sector.^{[citation needed]}

In June 2016, Hester was appointed to the board of Centrica the FTSE 100 energy Group as Senior Independent Director which he stepped down from in June 2022.^{[citation needed]}

Hester joined the Board of easyJet, the leading European airline, on 1 September 2021 becoming Chairman on 1 December 2021.^{[citation needed]} He also was appointed Lead Independent Director of Kyndryl in November 2021.^{[citation needed]} Kyndryl is a New York based and listed company spun off from IBM. It is the largest IT infrastructure provider globally.^{[citation needed]}

In April 2022 Hester joined the Board of Nordea Bank abp as Vice Chairman, and became Chairman on 1 October 2022.^{[citation needed]}Nordea is the largest bank in the Nordics and the 5th largest European bank by value.^{[citation needed]}

Hester married Canadian-born Barbara Abt in 1991, and they have two children together.^[9][10] They met when both were working for Credit Suisse.^[9][10] They separated and divorced in 2010.^[9][11]

In September 2012, Hester married Suzy Neubert, a former banker and wealth manager for the fund manager J.O. Hambro. It was a second marriage for both of them.^[12][13] The couple have four children.^[2]

Hester bought the 400-acre (160 ha) Broughton Grange estate in Oxfordshire in 1992.^[9] One of Hester's passions is said to be development of the gardens and arboretum at the property, part of which was designed by landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith and includes pleached limes, formal beds and five of the first Australian Wollemi pines to be brought into the UK.^[3] For nine years Hester was a trustee of the Foundation and Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.^[14][15][16]

Hester enjoys tennis, running and shooting, as well as skiing, for which he owns a chalet in Verbier, Switzerland.^[17][18] Hester also used to enjoy horse riding,^[18] as his first wife was a master of fox hounds in Warwickshire.^[19]

Hester has in the past donated to the Conservative Party.^[20] In the 2024 New Year Honours Hester was appointed Knight Bachelor for services to Business and the Economy.^[21]

• Broughton Grange website