Official portrait of Lord Gadhia crop 2, 2019

Jitesh Kishorekumar Gadhia, Baron Gadhia is a British investment banker,

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

donor and member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

. A member of the Leader's Group of high-value donors, he was described by The Herald as a member of

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

's "inner circle".

Education and career

Gadhia was a pupil at Gayton High Comprehensive School (Harrow) from 1982-1986. Gadhia studied economics at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

and the

London Business School London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degrees in management and finance, MBA and PhD). Its motto is " ...

, where he was a

Sloan Fellow The Sloan Fellows program is the world's first mid-career and senior career master's degree in general management and leadership. It was initially supported by a grant from Alfred P. Sloan, the late CEO of General Motors, to his alma mater, MIT ...

. Gadhia is a senior managing director at

The Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate bu ...

, a US private equity firm. Prior to this, he worked for

Barclays Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

ABN AMRO ABN or abn may refer to: Companies * ABN AMRO Group, a Dutch bank group * ABN AMRO, sometimes referred to as "ABN" in shorthand, is a Dutch state-owned bank * Algemene Bank Nederland, a now-defunct Dutch bank Radio, news and television organizat ...

, and

Barings Bank Barings Bank was a British merchant bank based in London, and one of England's List of oldest banks in continuous operation, oldest merchant banks after Berenberg Bank, Barings' close collaborator and German representative. It was founded in 1762 ...

, which collapsed while he worked there. He also sits on the board of

UK Financial Investments UK Financial Investments (UKFI) was a limited company set up in November 2008 and mandated by the British government to manage HM Treasury's shareholdings in the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) and in UK Asset Resolution, which held the residu ...

. Gadhia was a trustee of

Nesta Nesta (formerly NESTA, National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) is an innovation foundation based in the UK. The organisation acts through a combination of programmes, investment, policy and research, and the formation of part ...

, and has written for

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

. In September 2017, Gadhia was appointed a non-executive director of fracking company Third Energy, though questions were raised about a potential conflict of interest when the company was late publishing its annual results, amid concerns about its financial resilience and ability to fund clean-up costs. Gadhia resigned as a director in September 2018.

Political support

He has donated at least £225,000 to the Conservative Party, and another £18,000 to the

Conservative Friends of India The Conservative Friends of India is linked to the Conservative Party in the UK, and is a membership organization which engages with the British Indian community and played a significant role in the Conservative campaign in the 2019 general electi ...

. He has also donated at least £25,000 to the Liberal Democrats in Scotland. He was involved in the cash for access scandal in 2014, along with

James Stunt Petra Ecclestone (born 19 December 1988) is a British heiress, model, fashion designer and socialite. Early life Ecclestone was born in London as the younger daughter of former Armani model Slavica Radić and English Formula One billionaire B ...

(billionaire art dealer, gambling and shipping tycoon) and

Alexander Temerko Alexander Viktorovich Temerko (born 9 September 1966) is a Ukrainian businessman in the energy sector, currently a director of the British company Aquind Limited. Previously, he was director and deputy chairman of the British company OGN Group. Wh ...

(Russian energy tycoon), and approximately 40 others. In August 2016 it was announced that he was to be made a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

in as part of Cameron's

Resignation Honours The Prime Minister's Resignation Honours in the United Kingdom are Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, honours granted at the behest of an outgoing Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister following their resignation ...

list. In the afternoon of 31 August he was created Baron Gadhia, of Northwood in the County of Middlesex. In October 2022, he was appointed to the Court of Directors of the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gadhia, Jitesh Gadhia, Baron Year of birth missing (living people) Conservative Party (UK) life peers Life peers created by Elizabeth II Investment bankers Living people British politicians of Indian descent