Sir Howard John Davies has over 30 years of experience in the finance industry and continues to be a major business figure today. He is the current chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland, which has over 700 branches and 71,000 employees. Davies knows exactly what it takes to run major financial companies thanks to his wide range of leadership roles.
Davies started off working at the British Treasury and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. From 1997 to 2003, Davies chaired the Financial Services Authority, a body responsible for the regulation of the financial services industry in the UK. He juggled being both a non-executive director of GKN and being a member of the International Advisory Board of NatWest Bank during the mid-90’s. Then, Davies served as director of the London School of Economics and Political Science from 2003 to 2011, a defining role for him. In 2009, Davies was appointed as advisor to the Investment Strategy Committee of GIC Private Limited, a sovereign wealth fund. Then in 2011, he joined the fund’s International Advisory Board. Showing just how wide-ranging his leadership skills go, Davies chaired the UK Airports Commission for 3 years starting in 2012.
But it is not all finance and business for Davies. From 1995 to 2004, he was a founding chairman of Employers Forum on Age, an organization created to fight against ageism in the work environment. He is also a donor to Working Families, a charity supporting rights of parents in the workplace and is a trustee of the London Library. His many high-level positions demonstrate his leadership efficiency and how he is unafraid to dedicate himself to a variety of ventures to help a variety of people.