Mr Niall FitzGerald KBE (Chair)

Niall FitzGerald is the Deputy Chairman of Thomson Reuters, following the creation of the new company in April 2008. Prior to this he was the Chairman of Reuters from October 2004, having spent over thirty years with Unilever in a variety of commercial and financial jobs in several countries. In the early 1980s he became CEO of Unilever’s foods business in South Africa and thereafter returned to London as Unilever Group Treasurer.

His other Board mandates include Chairman of the Nelson Mandela Legacy Trust (UK) (2004-2008) and co-Chair of the Investment Climate Facility (ICF) for Africa. Niall is Chairman of the International Business Council, a member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum and also a Trustee of the Leverhulme Trust. He is a member of various advisory bodies, including the President of South Africa’s International Investment Advisory Council, the Advisory Board of Tsinghua University, the Advisory Board of Spencer Stuart and, until very recently, the International Advisory Board of the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Blackstone European Advisory Board. He is a Senior Advisor to Morgan Stanley International.

Niall lists amongst his interests music (opera and jazz), Irish rugby, supporting Manchester United, running (slowly), playing golf (poorly), creating an exotic garden in Sussex and observing humanity.