Lord Jonathan Kestenbaum is a member of the House of Lords. He is also a Director of Five Arrows Limited, Windmill Hill Asset Management and JP Morgan Japanese Investment Trust. He was previously Chief Operating Officer of RIT Capital Partners plc and a member of its Executive Committee as well as a director of the company’s operating business, J Rothschild Capital Management Limited.

Lord Jonathan Kestenbaum is a member of the House of Lords. He is also a Director of Five Arrows Limited, Windmill Hill Asset Management and JP Morgan Japanese Investment Trust. He was previously Chief Operating Officer of RIT Capital Partners plc and a member of its Executive Committee as well as a Director of the company’s operating business, J Rothschild Capital Management Limited. Jonathan studied at the London School of Economics and Cambridge University, and whilst a student was Secretary of the Bnei Akiva youth movement. In 1985, after graduating he lived in Jerusalem, where he studied at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and became a dual national. He returned to the UK in 1991 and took up his position as Chief Executive of the Office of Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks. He was then CEO of the UJIA. Thereafter he became Chief of Staff to Sir Ronald Cohen, Chairman of Apax Partners. Whilst working with Sir Ronald, he became the founding CEO of The Portland Trust, an organisation committed to building peaceful ties between Palestinians and Israelis and in this capacity, Jonathan worked to foster Palestinian-Israeli dialogue and reconciliation. In 2005 he became Chief Executive of The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA). Whilst at NESTA he highlighted the importance of innovation to economic growth and was a prominent advocate for UK technology start-ups. In 2010 he joined RIT Capital Partners plc. Jonathan is a trustee of a number of charitable foundations including the Yoni Jesner Foundation. He previously served as a Trustee of Teach First, and has served in various other non-executive roles including as non-executive director of BICOM, and a Board member of Pershing Square Holdings plc. He chaired the Board of Directors of The Capital Holdings Funds (EDR Group) and also chaired GVQ Asset Management. Kestenbaum served on the Board of the Design Council and Enterprise Insight. He served on the Governing Body of the innovation agency the Technology Strategy Board, acted as a Commissioner of the Manchester Independent Economic Review and he was Chairman of the City of Manchester Science Review. He served on the Board of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and was involved in developing the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon. Jonathan also served as Chancellor of The University of Plymouth for thirteen years from 2013 until the end of his term of office in 2026. He was created a life peer in 2011 and became Lord Kestenbaum of Foxcote in the County of Somerset. Lord Kestenbaum is no longer a dual national, he retains only British citizenship, and speaks in the House of Lords on Education, Economic Affairs and Innovation. He was previously a Member of the Financial Services Regulation Committee.