Rona Fairhead, Financial Times Group
Rona has been Chief Executive of the Financial Times Group since June 2006. She sits on the Pearson Board and is also a member of the Pearson Management Committee. In March 2008 Rona also became responsible for Pearson VUE, Pearson’s vocational and professional certification business, and for building Pearson’s involvement in professional/ vocational education worldwide. Rona joined Pearson plc in October 2001, became a Pearson director in 2002 and served as Pearson Group’s CFO from June 2002.
Rona served as Chairman of Interactive Data Corporation’s Board of Directors from September 2007 to July 2010. Rona is also a non-executive director of HSBC Holdings Plc and chairs t
he HSBC Audit Committee.
Before joining Pearson, Rona was Executive Vice President, Strategy and Group Financial Control and a member of the Executive Board at ICI plc, the international specialty chemicals and paints company. Prior to her six years at ICI, she was a senior executive in the aerospace industry, working for Bombardier/Shorts Aerospace and British Aerospace. In her early career she worked for Bain & Co and Morgan Stanley. Rona has a law degree from Cambridge University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.