Sir William Russell | |
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692nd Lord Mayor of London | |
In office 9 November 2019 –13 November 2021 | |
Preceded by | Sir Peter Estlin |
Succeeded by | Vincent Keaveny |
Personal details | |
Born | William Anthony Bowater Russell 15 April 1965 London,United Kingdom |
Spouse | Hilary Chaplin (m. 1989) |
Children | 4 |
Alma mater | Durham University |
Occupation | Investment banker |
Sir William Anthony Bowater Russell (born 15 April 1965) is a British financier who served as the 692nd Lord Mayor of the City of London from 2019 to 2021. [1]
Educated at Eton and Durham University, graduating B.A., Russell started his career in financial services at First Boston in 1987, and joined Merrill Lynch in 1992, [2] working in Hong Kong, New York and London, before leaving in 2006 for public service. [3] [4]
Sheriff of the City of London for 2016/17, Russell was then elected Lord Mayor on 1 October 2019, taking office on 9 November 2019. [5] [6] In view of the global disruption to public life brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, Russell was re-elected, on 29 September 2020, as Lord Mayor of London to serve a second term for 2021, [7] the first Lord Mayor to serve more than one term since William Cubitt, who was re-elected in 1861. [8] He is the fifth member of his family to have held this position. [9]
Russell represents Bread Street Ward as Alderman on the City of London Corporation since 2013. [10]
Russell serves as Master of the Haberdashers' Company for 2024/25, [11] and is a Liveryman of the Feltmakers' as well as an Honorary Liveryman of the Paviors' Companies. [12]
He was knighted in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to "financial innovation, culture and wellbeing in the City of London, particularly during Covid-19". [13]
A keen cricketer, he is also a member of MCC, [14] and remains a member of the Advisory Board of Innovate Finance, an independent not-for-profit membership organisation serving the global FinTech community. [15]
The only son of Anthony Russell, a stockbroker, he is in remainder to the family baronetcy, [16] created for his great-great-uncle, Charles Russell, founder of the eponymous law firm.
His mother, Charlotte née Bowater, was from a Kentish family of paper packagers; [17] her father, Sir Ian Bowater GBE, was Lord Mayor of London for 1969–70, and his father Sir Frank Bowater, Lord Mayor for 1938–39. [5] Russell is the fifth member of his family to hold the position of Lord Mayor of London. [9]
British actor Damian Lewis is his maternal half-brother. [18] [19]
In 1989, Russell married Hilary Chaplin: they have four children. [20]
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