Ben Goldsmith
"Ben Goldsmith was appointed non-executive board member of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in March 2018. Ben Goldsmith is CEO of Menhaden Capital Management LLP which manages London-listed investment trust Menhaden Capital plc which invests in business opportunities arising from the efficient use of energy and resources. Sectors of focus include industrial process and material efficiency, energy efficiency and storage, power generation and waste and water.
"Previously Ben co-founded and built WHEB Asset Management, now one of Europe’s leading sustainability-focused fund management businesses. Ben chairs the Goldsmith family’s philanthropic foundation, the JMG Foundation, which has a focus on the environment. Ben is also a Trustee of one of the UK’s largest philanthropic foundations, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation. In 2003 Ben co-founded the UK Environmental Funders’ Network." [1]
Ben Goldsmith, founder of cleantech investment fund WHEB Ventures, The Environmental Funder's Network, and advisory board member of The JMG Foundation, writes that "effective philanthropy is about filling in the gaps. The JMG Foundation was named for my father, the late Sir James Goldsmith." [1]
"Like his father, he went to Eton and didn't go to university. He's a gambler too - though marriage to Kate Rothschild, and their three small children, have curbed his visits to Aspinall's... After Eton, Ben travelled around the world. When he returned to the UK, he became a trainee at private-client broker Hargreave Hale. Then he worked for Ben Elliot, nephew of Camilla Parker Bowles, in his Quintessentially concierge business. His uncle Teddy, the ecologist, was trying to sort out the family finances after Jimmy's death, and Ben gave him a hand. He listened to Teddy discussing green issues and found himself in agreement...
"Eventually, he met Rob Wylie, an environmental entrepreneur, and Kim Heyworth, who chaired KPMG's 'green' consulting arm. They had their own advisory firm, Wylie Heyworth Environment Business or WHEB. He bought 50%, and the new-look WHEB dropped the advisory side to invest directly. WHEB also maintained Ruston WHEB, a headhunting sideline. This is now Europe's leading recruitment specialist across the whole environmental, sustainability sector. The firm has placed over 350 people in jobs. It has close ties to some of the biggest corporations, including IBM and BP (many of those working for BP in renewables came via Goldsmith's agency)." [2]
Affiliations
- Chair, Conservative Environment Network
- Advisory Council, Oxford Martin School [3]
- Steering Committee, Ibiza Preservation Fund [4]
- Trustee, John Aspinall Foundation
Resources and articles
Related Sourcewatch
- Verton Holdings
- Nigel Wright
- Evergreen Securities plc
- Cleantech
- Robin Birley - half brother
References
- ↑ Philanthropy in a climate of change, philanthropyuk.org, accessed January 12, 2011.
- ↑ thisismoney.co.uk Profile: Ben Goldsmith, WHEB Ventures, organizational web page, accessed February 17, 2015 .
- ↑ Oxford Martin School Advisory Council, organizational web page, accessed February 17, 2015 .
- ↑ Ibiza Preservation Fund Steering committee, organizational web page, accessed October 1, 2012.
