Sir David Cecil Clementi (born 25 February 1949) is a British business executive and a former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. He was formerly the Chairman of the BBC. Clementi holds a number of board positions including chairman of international payments business WorldFirst and vice-chairman at investment managers, Ruffer LLP. He has held numerous other positions including chairman of

Prudential plc Prudential plc is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in London, England. It was founded in London in May 1848 to provide loans to professional and working people. Prudential has dual primary listings on the London Stock E ...

, one of Britain's largest insurance companies, a non-executive director on the

board of governors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organi ...

of the

Rio Tinto Group Rio Tinto Group is an Anglo-Australian multinational company that is the world's second-largest metals and mining corporation (behind BHP). The company was founded in 1873 when of a group of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tint ...

and until June 2015 was chairman of

Virgin Money Virgin Money is a financial services brand used by two independent brand-licensees worldwide from the Virgin Group. Virgin Money branded services are currently available in Australia and the United Kingdom. The brand formerly operated in South A ...

, seeing the business through its IPO. In March 2008, he was announced as Warden of

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...

and, in 2010, was Master of the Mercers' Company.

Early life

David Cecil Clementi was born on 25 February 1949. His father,

Cresswell Clementi Air Vice Marshal Cresswell Montagu Clementi (30 December 1918 – 26 August 1981) was a senior Royal Air Force (RAF) commander. Background Clementi was the son of Cecil Clementi and Marie Penelope Rose Eyres. He was born on 20 December 1918 i ...

, was an

Air Vice-Marshal Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes ...

in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

. His grandfather

Cecil Clementi Sir Cecil Clementi (; 1 September 1875 – 5 April 1947) was a British colonial administrator who served as Governor of Hong Kong from 1925 to 1930, and Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Straits Settlements from 1930 to 1934. Early lif ...

was Governor of Hong Kong from 1925 to 1930 and Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the

Straits Settlements The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore for more than a century, it was originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Com ...

from 1930 to 1934. His great-great-grandfather was

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia *Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports * Swiss Internation ...

musician

Muzio Clementi Muzio Filippo Vincenzo Francesco Saverio Clementi (23 January 1752 – 10 March 1832) was an Italian composer, virtuoso pianist, pedagogue, conductor, music publisher, editor, and piano manufacturer, who was mostly active in England. Encourag ...

. He was educated at Winchester College, where he was captain of athletics and a distinguished footballer. He then went to

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, th ...

, where he obtained a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics and a

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

for athletics. After graduating, he qualified as a chartered accountant. He graduated MBA from

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA ...

in 1975.

Career

After graduating from Harvard Business School, Clementi commenced a career in the finance industry, which culminated in his appointment as Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. He spent 22 years at investment bank

Kleinwort Benson Kleinwort Benson was a leading investment bank that offered a wide range of financial services from offices throughout the United Kingdom and Channel Islands. Two families, the Kleinworts and the Bensons, founded two different merchant banks in ...

, becoming Chief Executive. His nickname at Kleinwort Benson was "The Duke". In June 2002, he told the

Treasury select committee The House of Commons Treasury Committee (often referred to as the Treasury Select Committee) is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administr ...

that a house price crash was a virtual certainty. He said, "I said in April that the level of house price inflation, then running in the mid-teens was unsustainable. Since then we've seen something of an acceleration ... and the longer it goes on, the sharper is likely to be the eventual adjustment." In July 2003, he was given the task, by the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs,

Lord Falconer of Thoroton Charles Leslie Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton, (born 19 November 1951) is a British Labour peer and barrister who served as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice under Prime Minister Tony Blair from 2003 to 2007. Born in ...

, of undertaking a wide-ranging independent review of the regulation of legal services in England and Wales, now known generally as the Clementi report In 2004, Clementi was appointed Knight Bachelor. He was Chairman of

from October 2011 until May 2015. He is currently the Chairman of International Payments business WorldFirst. In January 2017 he was confirmed as the chairman of the newly established

BBC Board The BBC Board is the governing board of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Board replaced the BBC Trust in April 2017. The chairman is Richard Sharp. The chair and four non-executive members representing the four nations are appointed by ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clementi, David 1949 births Living people Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford Prudential plc people Chairmen of the BBC People educated at Winchester College Monetary Policy Committee members Deputy Governors of the Bank of England Harvard Business School alumni British people of Italian descent Knights Bachelor BBC Board members Wardens of Winchester College