Board of directors
Pearson's 12-member board brings a wide range of experience, skills and backgrounds.
Glen Moreno
Chairman
Marjorie Scardino
Chief executive
Will Ethridge
Chief executive, Pearson North American Education
Rona Fairhead
Chairman and chief executive of The Financial Times Group
Robin Freestone
Chief financial officer
John Makinson
Chairman and chief executive of The Penguin Group
David Arculus
Non-executive director
Patrick Cescau
Senior independent director
Vivienne Cox
Non-executive director
Susan Fuhrman
Non-executive director
Ken Hydon
Non-executive director
Josh Lewis
Non-executive director
Glen Moreno
Aged 68, appointed 1 October 2005
Chairman of the nomination committee and member of the remuneration committee
Glen has more than three decades of experience in business and finance, and is currently deputy chairman of The Financial Reporting Council Limited in the UK, deputy chairman and senior independent director at Lloyds Banking Group plc, and non-executive director of Fidelity International Limited. Previously, Glen was senior independent director of Man Group plc and acting chairman of UK Financial Investments Limited, the company set up by HM Treasury to manage the government's shareholdings in British banks.
Marjorie Scardino
Aged 65, appointed 1 January 1997
Member of the nomination committee
Marjorie brings a range of business, legal and publishing experience to Pearson. Before becoming Pearson CEO, she was chief executive of The Economist Group. Trained as a lawyer, she was a partner in a Savannah, Georgia, law firm and at the same time founded with her husband the Pulitzer Prize-winning Georgia Gazette newspaper. Marjorie is a director of Nokia Corporation and on the non-profit boards of Oxfam and the MacArthur Foundation. In 2003 she was made a Dame of the British Empire and in 2010 was named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Will Ethridge
Aged 60, appointed 1 May 2008
Chief executive, Pearson North American Education
Will has three decades of experience in education and educational publishing, including nearly a decade and a half at Pearson where he formerly headed our Higher Education, International and Professional Publishing business. Prior to joining Pearson in 1998, Will was a senior executive at Prentice Hall and Addison Wesley, and before that an editor at Little, Brown and Co where he published in the fields of economics and politics. Will is a board member and former chairman of the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and board chairman of CourseSmart, a consortium of electronic textbook publishers.
Rona Fairhead
Aged 50, appointed 1 June 2002
Chairman and chief executive of The Financial Times Group
Rona has wide experience in business, finance, services and manufacturing. She was Pearson's chief financial officer before beginning her current role in 2006. In addition to the FT Group, Rona heads Pearson's professional and careers business that includes Pearson VUE (our electronic testing and certification business) and various skills and professional training businesses. She previously held senior management roles at specialty chemicals company ICI plc, and in aerospace with Bombardier/Shorts. She has an MBA from Harvard Business School. Rona currently serves as non-executive director of The Cabinet Office of UK Government and of HSBC Holdings plc, where she chairs the risk committee. She is also a member of the Cambridge University Library Visiting Committee. She was made a Commander of the British Empire in 2012.
Robin Freestone
Aged 53, appointed 12 June 2006
Chief financial officer
Robin's experience in management and accounting includes a previous role as group financial controller of Amersham plc (now part of General Electric) and senior financial positions with ICI plc, Zeneca and Henkel UK. He joined Pearson in 2004 as deputy chief financial officer and became chief financial officer in June 2006. Robin qualified as a chartered accountant with Touche Ross (now Deloitte), and is currently a non-executive director and founder shareholder of eChem Limited. Robin sits on the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAEW) Financial Reporting Committee and is deputy chairman of the Hundred Group of Finance Directors.
John Makinson
Aged 57, appointed 15 March 1996
Chairman and chief executive of The Penguin Group
John's diverse background spans business, consultancy, financial journalism and publishing. He was finance director of Pearson before heading Penguin, and previously served as managing director of the Financial Times newspaper, where he had earlier served as editor of the popular Lex column. John co-founded Makinson Cowell, an international financial consultancy, and was vice chairman of the US holding company of advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi. John is chairman of the National Theatre and a trustee of the Institute for Public Policy Research.
David Arculus
Aged 65, appointed 28 February 2006
Chairman of the remuneration committee and member of the audit and nomination committees
David has experience in banking, telecommunications and publishing in a long career in business. Currently he is chairman of Aldermore Bank plc, Numis Corporation plc and the Advisory Board of the British Library and a non-executive director of Telefonica S.A. David's previous roles include the chairmanship of O2 plc, Severn Trent plc and IPC Group, as well as chief operating officer of United Business Media plc and group managing director of EMAP plc. David served from 2002 to 2006 as chairman of the British government's Better Regulation Task Force, which worked on reducing burdens on business.
Patrick Cescau
Aged 63, appointed 1 April 2002
Member of the audit, remuneration and nomination committees
Patrick brings to Pearson more than 35 years global business experience in finance, consumer products, retailing and developing and emerging markets. He is the senior independent director of Tesco plc, Britain's largest retailer, a director of France-based INSEAD, the Business School for the World, and IAG, the International Consolidated Airlines Group, S.A., parent company of British Airways and Spain's Iberia. He was previously group chief executive of Unilever, the global consumer-goods company whose brands are known throughout the world. Patrick is a trustee of the Leverhulme Trust and chairman of the St. Jude Children Charity. In 2005 he was awarded the 'Légion d'Honneur', the highest decoration bestowed by France.
Vivienne Cox
Aged 52, appointed 1 January 2012
Member of the audit, remuneration and nomination committees
Vivienne has wide experience in energy, natural resources and business innovation. She worked for BP plc for 28 years, in Britain and continental Europe, in posts including executive vice president and chief executive of BP's Gas, Power & Renewables business and its Alternative Energy unit. She is also non-executive director of mining company Rio Tinto plc, energy company BG, the UK Department for International Development, and Vallourec, which supplies tubular systems for the energy industry. Vivienne also sits on the board of INSEAD.
Susan Fuhrman
Aged 67, appointed 27 July 2004
Member of the audit and nomination committees
Susan's extensive experience in education includes her current role as president of Teachers College at Columbia University, America's oldest and largest graduate school of education. She is president of the National Academy of Education, and was previously dean of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania and on the board of trustees of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Ken Hydon
Aged 67, appointed 28 February 2006
Chairman of the audit committee and member of the remuneration and nomination committees
Ken's experience in finance and business includes roles in electronics, consumer products and healthcare. He is a non-executive director of Reckitt Benckiser Group plc, one of the world's leading manufacturers and marketers of branded products in household cleaning and health and personal care, retailer Tesco plc and the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust. Previously, Ken was finance director of Vodafone Group plc and of subsidiaries of Racal Electronics.
Josh Lewis
Aged 49, appointed 1 March 2011
Member of the audit and nomination committees
Josh's experience spans finance, education and the development of digital enterprises. He is founder of Salmon River Capital LLC, a New York-based venture capital firm focused on technology-enabled businesses in education, financial services and other sectors. Over a 25 year private equity/venture capital career, he has been involved in a broad range of successful companies, including several pioneering enterprises in the education sector. In addition, he has long been active in the non-profit education sector, with associations including New Leaders and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
