Stephen Hester
Encyclopedia
Stephen Hester is currently the Chief Executive Officer
of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group.
in North Yorkshire
a rural comprehensive school, and at Oxford where he studied at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
, and after chairing the Tory Reform Group
, graduated with a first class honours degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
, where he started as chairman’s assistant. 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. From May 2000 to September 2001, he was Head of Fixed Income Division.
In May 2002 he joined Abbey National
as Finance Director. He then went on to become Chief Operating Officer, a position he held until November 2004, when he was appointed Chief Executive of British Land
. In early 2007, eight months before British Land and others REIT's were caught in the commercial property slump, he said: "I don't believe we are about to see a market decline, but the period of sharp growth is over."
Hester was appointed non-executive deputy chairman of the newly-nationalised 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
.
as Chief Executive of the RBS Group. Hester is paid an annual salary of £1.2 million by RBS. Alongside this, he took home £7.7m in bonus and pension payments
In December, 2009, the board of RBS
, in which the United Kingdom government has an 84% stake, threatened to resign unless they were permitted to pay bonuses of £1.5bn to staff in its investment arm. The matter received heavy criticism because it followed a £850bn taxpayer bailout of the banking sector. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling
, said he would not be "held to ransom".
, have two children. The family home is in Holland Park
, west London
, but they also have a 350 acre
estate in Oxfordshire
, Broughton Grange. One of Hester's passions is said to be the garden of Broughton Grange and development of its arboretum
, which was designed by landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith and includes pleached
limes, formal beds and five of the first batch of Australia
n Wollemi pine
s ever to be brought into the UK. Hester is a trustee of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
.
Hester enjoys tennis
, running
, shooting
and skiing
, which for the latter he owns a chalet in Verbier
, Switzerland
. Hester also enjoys horse riding, as his wife is a master of fox hounds
in Warwickshire
: "it’s very important to keep our marriage together that I do the same as she does."
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Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group.
Early life
Hester is the eldest son of a university professor. He was educated at Easingwold SchoolEasingwold School
Easingwold School is a mixed, comprehensive 11-18 school in Easingwold, North Yorkshire, England. The school has specialist Language College status and has approximately 1,500 students, including the Sixth Form, located on site....
in North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
a rural comprehensive school, and at Oxford where he studied at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
Lady Margaret Hall is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located at the end of Norham Gardens in north Oxford. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £34m....
, and after chairing the Tory Reform Group
Tory Reform Group
The Tory Reform Group is a group aligned to, but independent of, the British Conservative Party, that works to promote the values of the One Nation Tory vision...
, graduated with a first class honours degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
Career
Hester began his career in 1982 with Credit SuisseCredit Suisse
The Credit Suisse Group AG is a Swiss multinational financial services company headquartered in Zurich, with more than 250 branches in Switzerland and operations in more than 50 countries.-History:...
, where he started as chairman’s assistant. 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. From May 2000 to September 2001, he was Head of Fixed Income Division.
In May 2002 he joined Abbey National
Abbey National
Abbey National plc was a UK-based bank and former building society, which latterly traded under the Abbey brand name. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of Grupo Santander of Spain in 2004, and was rebranded as Santander in January 2010, forming Santander UK along with the savings business of the...
as Finance Director. He then went on to become Chief Operating Officer, a position he held until November 2004, when he was appointed Chief Executive of British Land
British Land
The British Land Company plc is one of the largest property development and investment companies in the United Kingdom. The firm switched to Real Estate Investment Trust status when REITs were introduced in the United Kingdom in January 2007. It is headquartered in London...
. In early 2007, eight months before British Land and others REIT's were caught in the commercial property slump, he said: "I don't believe we are about to see a market decline, but the period of sharp growth is over."
Hester was appointed non-executive deputy chairman of the newly-nationalised Northern Rock
Northern Rock
Northern Rock plc is a British bank, best known for becoming the first bank in 150 years to suffer a bank run after having had to approach the Bank of England for a loan facility, to replace money market funding, during the credit crisis in 2007. Having failed to find a commercial buyer for...
by Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
Alistair Darling
Alistair Darling
Alistair Maclean Darling is a Scottish Labour Party politician who has been a Member of Parliament since 1987, currently for Edinburgh South West. He served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2007 to 2010...
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
Royal Bank of Scotland
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is a British banking and insurance holding company in which the UK Government holds an 84% stake. This stake is held and managed through UK Financial Investments Limited, whose voting rights are limited to 75% in order for the bank to retain its listing on the...
.
Royal Bank of Scotland
In November 2008 he left British Land and on 21 November 2008 replaced Sir Fred GoodwinFred Goodwin
Sir Frederick Anderson Goodwin CA, FCIBS is a Scottish chartered accountant and former banker who was chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group between 2001 and 2009....
as Chief Executive of the RBS Group. Hester is paid an annual salary of £1.2 million by RBS. Alongside this, he took home £7.7m in bonus and pension payments
In December, 2009, the board of RBS
RBS
-Banking:* Royal Bank of Scotland - Scottish high street bank** Royal Bank of Scotland Group - A majority British state owned Scottish holding company, which owns Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest and others-Defence:...
, in which the United Kingdom government has an 84% stake, threatened to resign unless they were permitted to pay bonuses of £1.5bn to staff in its investment arm. The matter received heavy criticism because it followed a £850bn taxpayer bailout of the banking sector. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling
Alistair Darling
Alistair Maclean Darling is a Scottish Labour Party politician who has been a Member of Parliament since 1987, currently for Edinburgh South West. He served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2007 to 2010...
, said he would not be "held to ransom".
Personal life
Hester's is presently separated from his wife, fellow banker the Canadian Barbara Abt. The couple, who met while both working at Credit SuisseCredit Suisse
The Credit Suisse Group AG is a Swiss multinational financial services company headquartered in Zurich, with more than 250 branches in Switzerland and operations in more than 50 countries.-History:...
, have two children. The family home is in Holland Park
Holland Park
Holland Park is a district and a public park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in west central London, England.Holland Park has a reputation as an affluent and fashionable area, known for attractive large Victorian townhouses, and high-class shopping and restaurants...
, west London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, but they also have a 350 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
estate in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, Broughton Grange. One of Hester's passions is said to be the garden of Broughton Grange and development of its arboretum
Arboretum
An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...
, which was designed by landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith and includes pleached
Pleaching
Pleaching is a technique to weave the branches of trees into a hedge or to form a quincunx. Commonly, deciduous trees are planted in lines, then pleached to form a flat plane on clear stems above the ground level. Branches are woven together and lightly tied...
limes, formal beds and five of the first batch of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n Wollemi pine
Wollemi Pine
Wollemia is a genus of coniferous tree in the family Araucariaceae. Wollemia was only known through fossil records until the Australian species Wollemia nobilis was discovered in 1994 in a temperate rainforest wilderness area of the Wollemi National Park in New South Wales, in a remote series of...
s ever to be brought into the UK. Hester is a trustee of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, usually referred to as Kew Gardens, is 121 hectares of gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond and Kew in southwest London, England. "The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew" and the brand name "Kew" are also used as umbrella terms for the institution that runs...
.
Hester enjoys tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, running
Running
Running is a means of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. It is simply defined in athletics terms as a gait in which at regular points during the running cycle both feet are off the ground...
, shooting
Shooting
Shooting is the act or process of firing rifles, shotguns or other projectile weapons such as bows or crossbows. Even the firing of artillery, rockets and missiles can be called shooting. A person who specializes in shooting is a marksman...
and skiing
Skiing
Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....
, which for the latter he owns a chalet in Verbier
Verbier
Verbier is a village located in southwestern Switzerland in the canton of Valais. It is one of the largest holiday resort and ski areas in the Swiss Alps, is recognized as one of the premiere "off-piste" locations in the world...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. Hester also enjoys horse riding, as his wife is a master of fox hounds
Fox hunting
Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase, and sometimes killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds, and a group of followers led by a master of foxhounds, who follow the hounds on foot or on horseback.Fox hunting originated in its current...
in Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
: "it’s very important to keep our marriage together that I do the same as she does."
External links
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