Chancellor announces Bank of England appointments

His Majesty the King and the Chancellor have appointed three new non-executive directors to the Bank of England's Court of Directors.

David Craig and Paul Nowak are appointed to four-year terms until 31 August 2030. Hanneke Smits will begin her four-year term on 1 January 2027, until 31 December 2030.  

David Craig and Paul Nowak take up the positions vacated by Sir Ron Kalifa and Baroness Frances O'Grady.  David Craig and Paul Nowak will attend their first Court meetings on 17 September and 22 October respectively. Hanneke Smits will take up the position currently held by Sabine Chalmers, who has informed the Court of her intention to resign her role at the end of October 2026, and Hanneke Smits will attend her first Court meeting on 11 February 2027. 

These new appointments come alongside the reappointment of Lord Jitesh Gadhia and Tom Shropshire as non-executive directors for a second four-year team. Lord Jitesh Gadhia will begin his four-year term on the 24 October 2026, and Tom Shropshire will begin his four-year term on the 1 November 2026.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Healey, said: 

These appointments strengthen the Court at a critical moment for the UK economy, providing deep and varied experience to support the Bank in delivering its core missions of monetary and financial stability.

David Roberts, Chair of Court, said:

The Governor and I wish to thank Sabine Chalmers for her dedication to the Bank of England over the past four years and the insights she has brought to the Court throughout that time, including her support for the Bank's culture and people development agenda.

On behalf of Court, I am delighted to welcome David, Paul and Hanneke, who bringconsiderable insight and experience that will aid the Court in executing on our responsibilities. I look forward to continuing working with Jitesh and Tom following their reappointment, as we continue to drive forward the changes needed to ensure the Bank is well placed to deliver in the coming years.

About Paul Nowak 

Paul Nowak is General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress. The TUC represents 47 unions and 5.3 million workers in the UK. Paul has represented the TUC internationally at the International Labour Organisation, OECD and G20, and holds non-executive experience at Unity Trust Bank.

About David Craig 

David Craig is a senior financial markets and data technology executive with over 30 years' leadership experience. He founded and led Refinitiv as CEO, building it into a global leader in financial data, technology and trading platforms before instigating its acquisition by London Stock Exchange Group, where he subsequently led the Data and Analytics Division. Amongst other financial industry technology and data roles, he co-chairs the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures.

About Hanneke Smits 

Hanneke Smits is a senior investment management executive with 34 years' experience, including as former Global Head of BNY Investment Management and a member of BNY's Executive Committee. Whilst at BNY Hanneke also served on a few subsidiary asset management boards (Alcentra, Insight, Newton and Walter Scott). She has previously served on the Court and brings extensive non-executive experience across the Wellcome Trust, the Van Leer Foundation and the Education Endowment Foundation. 

About Lord Jitesh Gadhia 

Lord Gadhia has over 25 years' investment banking and financial services experience, having held senior positions at Blackstone, Barclays Capital, ABN AMRO and Baring Brothers. He currently serves on the boards of Rolls-Royce Holdings plc and Taylor Wimpey plc, and previously served on the boards of UK Financial Investments Limited and UK Government Investments Limited from 2014 to 2022. He has been a member of the House of Lords since 2016. He is also Chair of The British Asian Trust, a charitable foundation established by His Majesty King Charles III.

About Tom Shropshire 

Tom Shropshire is Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. Prior to this, he was General Counsel and Company Secretary of Diageo plc. Before joining Diageo, he was a partner at Linklaters LLP, where he was Global Head of US Practice and co-head of the Risk and Resilience Practice. He is a trustee of the New York University School of Law and a former trustee and chair of Comic Relief.

About the Court of the Bank of England 

The Court of the Bank of England acts as the Bank's board. It is responsible for overseeing the Bank's strategy, governance, budget and risk framework, and for ensuring the effective discharge of the Bank's statutory functions.

The Court consists of the Chair and eight other Non-Executive Directors, the Governor and four Deputy Governors. Non-Executive Directors bring independent judgement and a breadth of experience to the Court's deliberations.

About the appointment process 

The appointment followed a fair and open competition in line with the Governance Code on Public Appointments.

Appointments and reappointments to the Court of the Bank of England are not automatic. Each case is considered on its own merits.

David Craig, Paul Nowak, Hanneke Smits, Lord Jitesh Gadhia and Tom Shropshire have confirmed that they have not engaged in any party political activity in the last five years.