Stephen Hester

Sir Stephen Alan Michael Hester (born 14 December 1960) is a British business executive and banker who has been serving as chairman of Nordea Abp since 2022 and chairman of easyJet since 2021. He is also the former chief executive of RSA Insurance Group and British Land.

Early life Hester is the eldest son of Ronald, a chemistry professor at the University of York, and Dr Bridget Hester, a psychotherapist. He was born in Ithaca, NY, US but grew up primarily in the village of Crayke in North Yorkshire. He was educated at Easingwold School in North Yorkshire, a rural comprehensive school, and at Oxford where he studied at Lady Margaret Hall, and after chairing the Tory Reform Group, graduated with a first class honours degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

Royal Bank of Scotland In October 2008, RBS, then the biggest bank in the world by assets, was bailed out by UK taxpayers as part of the 2008 financial crisis. As part of that change, Hester was asked to leave British Land and replace Fred Goodwin as Chief Executive of the RBS Group.

The ensuing five years were ones of intense restructuring of RBS. Assets were reduced by some £720 billion and costs by c£4.2 billion. The task had been likened to defusing a financial bomb. In addition to restoring financial health the share price of RBS which had troughed at 90p equivalent, rose to 330p by the time he left the bank.

Hester was paid an annual salary of £1.1 million by RBS. In 2012 he was offered a bonus of just under £1 million, but following some considerable pressure from politicians and the public, he declined the bonus. Later in 2012, in June, he declined his bonus for the following year after RBS's computer problems.

In June 2013 Royal Bank of Scotland announced that Hester would be stepping down as CEO in December 2013, after five years with the bank.

RSA Insurance On 4 February 2014, Hester joined RSA Insurance Group, the FTSE100 insurer, as CEO. The company was also experiencing a financial crisis and Hester led significant restructuring efforts, streamlining and focusing the business, raising £750 million in a rights issue and changing management whilst cutting costs. The insurer responded well to these changes with substantial increases in earnings, dividends and share price. The Company accepted an all cash bid worth £7.2 bn in June 2021 from Intact of Canada and Tryg of Denmark. The 52% premium was a record for the sector.

Other appointments In June 2016, Hester was appointed to the board of Centrica the FTSE 100 energy Group as Senior Independent Director which he stepped down from in June 2022.

2021 onwards

Hester joined the board of easyJet, the European airline, on 1 September 2021, becoming chair on 1 December 2021. He was appointed lead independent director of Kyndryl in November 2021. In April 2022 Hester joined the board of Nordea Bank abp as vice chair, and became chair on 1 October 2022.

Personal life Hester married Canadian-born Barbara Abt in 1991, and they have two children together. They met when both were working for Credit Suisse.

In September 2012, Hester married Suzy Neubert, a former banker and wealth manager for the fund manager J.O. Hambro. It was a second marriage for both of them. The couple have four children.

Hester enjoys tennis, running and shooting, as well as skiing, for which he owns a chalet in Verbier, Switzerland. Hester also used to enjoy horse riding,

Hester has in the past donated to the Conservative Party. In the 2024 New Year Honours Hester was appointed Knight Bachelor for services to Business and the Economy.