Sir Simon Christopher Townsend Robey (born 5 July 1960) is a British investment banker and supporter of cultural organisations.

Early life and education

Robey was adopted as a child and grew up in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. He has described himself as an 'odd child', with a 'fairly nerdy' upbringing. He attended

Reed's School Reed's School is an independent secondary boarding school for boys with a mixed sixth form located in Cobham, Surrey, England. There are currently around 700 day pupils (620 boys, 80 girls) with 100 full-time boarders (80 boys, 20 girls). The s ...

in Cobham before moving onto

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

as a choral scholar to read English.

Business career

Robey worked for several investment banks. Latterly he worked for 25 years at

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...

, becoming co-chairman of global mergers and acquisition. In 2013 he joined with

Simon Robertson Sir Simon Manwaring Robertson (born 4 March 1941), is a British banker and businessman.Andrew Cave, 'British business people: The Top 1,000: Industry 20 to 1', in ''The Daily Telegraph'', 29 April 200/ref> Biography Simon Robertson attended Eton ...

, a former Goldman Sachs banker, to form Robertson Robey Associates. Later in that year Simon Warshaw joined. In 2014 Robertson split from the group, leaving Robey and Warshaw to rebrand the firm as

Robey Warshaw Robey Warshaw LLP is a boutique investment bank based in London. The firm was founded in 2013 and is led by investment bankers Sir Simon Robey, Philip Apostolides, and Simon Warshaw. History Robey, Apostolides and Warshaw were prominent dealmak ...

, with Robey’s former Morgan Stanley colleague Philip Apostolides also joining the firm.

Other roles

Robey joined the board of the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...

on 1 July 2006, and was its chair from 2008 until 2017. In 2016 he also became the chair of Aldeburgh Music (now known as Snape Maltings).

Recognition

Robey was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours for 2016 "for services to Music".

Personal life

Robey is married to Victoria Hull. She was previously married to Richard Sharp, the incoming BBC chairman and a former investment banker. He has three daughters from his previous marriage, and three step-children from her previous marriage. He owns Bramfield Hall, a 16th-century, Grade II*-listed building in Suffolk. The property had been owned by the Rabett family for 450 years until Robey acquired it.

Notes

References

Living people 1960 births British bankers Knights Bachelor Royal Opera House Morgan Stanley people People educated at Reed's School Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford {{UK-bio-stub