Robert is currently a Senior Adviser to Citi and to Ahren Innovation Capital, an investment company focused on deep, transformational science based in Cambridge. He also serves on the Takeover Appeal Board. He has recruited and Chairs the Campaign Board for Breast Cancer on a new £50million Campaign. These roles build on a long career advising boards and governments on strategy, governance and capital allocation.

He was previously Chair of UK Government Investments, the body responsible for corporate finance and corporate governance for HM Government, giving him a distinctive perspective on how the state can be an effective owner and steward of major assets. In the private sector, he has served as Chair of Marks & Spencer, Senior Independent Director at The British Land Company and 3i Group, and Chair of HMV, working closely with executive teams through periods of market disruption, strategic reset and governance evolution.

Earlier in his career, Robert spent over 30 years in investment banking with Schroders and Citigroup, holding senior leadership positions including Vice Chair of Citi Europe and Chair of Citi’s European Investment Bank. He is qualified both as a chartered accountant and a barrister, which underpins his rigorous, analytical approach to risk, governance and complex decision-making.

Robert has also devoted substantial time to education and social mobility. He was founder and Chair of Royal SpringBoard, Chair and member of the Governing Body of Rugby School, a Trustee of Teach First, Career Ready and the Kew Foundation, and a member of the Advisory Board of The Sutton Trust. Across these roles he has focused on widening opportunity, supporting young people’s development and strengthening institutions for the long term. Latterly he has spent much of his time working with Breast Cancer Now on the education of women and clinicians about secondary breast cancer and in raising funds for research into this disease that kills 12,500 women each year in the UK.