# Jonathan Kestenbaum, Baron Kestenbaum

Jonathan Andrew Kestenbaum, Baron Kestenbaum (born 5 August 1959) is the Chief Operating Officer of the listed Investment Company RIT Capital Partners plc. He is also the Chancellor of The University of Plymouth, a Director of JPMorgan Japanese Investment Trust plc and a member of the House of Lords.
Kestenbaum is a great-grandson of Joseph Breuer, and a great-great-great-grandson of Samson Raphael Hirsch and of Eliezer Liepman Philip Prins. He is a former Chief Executive of The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA). He was created a life peer in 2011 as Baron Kestenbaum of Foxcote in the County of Somerset, and sits on the Labour benches.

## Early life and education

Kestenbaum was born in Tokyo, Japan, and is British. Both his parents' families fled Nazi Germany – first to the United States, then Japan. The family moved to the UK in 1964 when he was five years old.
Kestenbaum graduated from the London School of Economics where he read Economics and Anthropology, and then pursued postgraduate study at Cambridge University in the Department of Anthropology. He completed an MA in Education at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and was subsequently awarded a research scholarship in Education at the Hebrew University. On his return to the UK, Kestenbaum earned an MBA with distinction from the Cass Business School. He is a graduate of the Cabinet Office Top Management Programme and a graduate of the Strategic Agility Programme at Harvard Business School. He has an Honorary Doctorate in Technology from the University of Plymouth, and is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art.

## Career

Before becoming active in business, he started his career in education, building an international training programme for young educators.
Subsequently, Kestenbaum was Chief Executive of the Office of the Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, and then Chief Executive of the charity the United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA). Following a restructure which involved a merger with another UK charity, the UJIA won the National Charity Award. He has also worked as Chief of Staff to Sir Ronald Cohen, the Chairman of private equity firm Apax Partners, and was founding Chief Executive of non-profit "action tank" The Portland Trust.
In 2005 he became Chief Executive of The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA). Whilst at NESTA he highlighted the importance of innovation to economic growth and was a prominent advocate for UK technology start-ups.
In 2010 he was appointed Chairman of Five Arrows Ltd, and subsequently became Chief Operating Officer of the listed investment trust RIT Capital Partners plc.
Kestenbaum has served in a number of non-executive roles. He was on the Board of the Design Council and Enterprise Insight, and was Non-Executive Chairman of Quest, a large accounting business. He served on the Governing Body of the innovation agency the Technology Strategy Board, acted as a Commissioner of the Manchester Independent Economic Review and Chairman of the City of Manchester Science Review. He chaired the Board of Directors of The Capital Holdings Funds (EDR Group), and was a member of the Board of Profero, a leading digital marketing company. In January 2014 Profero was sold to Lowe, a subsidiary of Interpublic Group (IPG). In 2015 he was appointed to the Board of Directors of Pershing Square Holdings plc.
He has completed his term of office on the Innovation Advisory Group at Imperial College and is now adjunct Professor at the Imperial College Business School. He also served on the Board of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and was involved in developing the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon.
In 2023 he was appointed as a Director of JPMorgan Japanese Investment Trust plc. In the same year he became a Trustee of Teach First and also serves as the Vice Chairman of Labour Together as well as on the Board of Windmill Hill Asset Management.
Kestenbaum twice represented Great Britain at football in the Maccabiah Games - in 2001 as a player and in 2009 as Manager. He is an Honorary Life President of Maccabi GB.
In December 2013, Kestenbaum was installed as Chancellor of Plymouth University.

## House of Lords

Kestenbaum was created a life peer on 24 January 2011 as Baron Kestenbaum of Foxcote in the County of Somerset. He was introduced in the House of Lords on 26 January 2011, and sits on the Labour benches.
Lord Kestenbaum serves as a member of the Select Committee on Financial Services Regulation.

## Arms

Coat of arms of Jonathan Kestenbaum, Baron Kestenbaum :
* CrestIn front of two arched tablets of stone representing those inscribed with the Ten Commandments Proper a cat couchant resting the dexter forepaw on a scroll Argent.
* EscutcheonGules a horse chestnut tree eradicated Or flowered Argent fructed Gules in chiief fourt martlets Argent.
* SupportersOn either side a lion Or that on the dexter resting its interior hind leg on an eastern hemisphere territorial globe and that on the sinister resting its interior hind leg on a western hemisphere territorial globe Or the land masses Sable.