John Makinson

Chairman and Chief Executive, The Penguin Group

John Makinson was appointed CEO of the Penguin Group in July 2002, and has been the company’s Chairman since May 2001. Prior to that he was the Pearson group finance director from April 1996 to July 2002. John’s career has included journalism and investor relations both in London and abroad. From 1994 to 1996 he was the managing director of the Financial Times newspaper where he was responsible for the production, distribution and marketing of the newspaper worldwide.

He moved to the Financial Times from Makinson Cowell, the firm that he co-founded and ran from 1989 to 1994. Makinson Cowell is a specialist independent consultancy which advises leading British companies on their relationships with the financial community.

From 1986 to 1989 he held the position of vice chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi’s US holding company.

John began his career as a journalist after graduating from Cambridge with Honours in History and English. He began at Reuters where he remained from 1976-1979 and worked in the London, Paris and Frankfurt offices and then moved to the Financial Times from 1979 to 1986 as a journalist becoming editor of the Lex column.

John serves as a non-executive director of George Weston Limited in Canada. John is married with two children and lives in London.