Annual report and accounts 2008

Glen Moreno,†• chairman, aged 65, was appointed chairman of Pearson on 1 October 2005. He is the senior independent director of Man Group plc and a director of Fidelity International Limited. He was recently made acting chairman of UK Financial Investments Limited, the company set up by HM Treasury to manage the government’s shareholdings in UK banks.

* A member of the audit committee.
† A member of the personnel committee.
• A member of the nomination committee.

Marjorie Scardino,• chief executive, aged 62, joined the Pearson board in January 1997. She trained and practised as a lawyer, and was chief executive of The Economist Group from 1993 until joining Pearson. She is also vice chairman of Nokia Corporation and a director of several charitable organisations.

David Bell, director for people, aged 62, became a director of Pearson in March 1996. In 1998 he was appointed Pearson’s director for people with responsibility for finding, keeping, rewarding and inspiring our employees. He is chairman of the Financial Times and Sadler’s Wells Theatre. He is also chairman of Crisis, a charity for the homeless, Roehampton University, The Institute for War and Peace Reporting and the London Transport Museum.

Will Ethridge, chief executive, Pearson Education North America, aged 57, joined the Pearson board in May 2008, having held a number of senior positions within Pearson Education. He is chairman of CourseSmart, a publishers’ consortium, vice chairman of the Association of American Publishers and a director of Interactive Data.

Rona Fairhead, chairman and chief executive of The Financial Times Group, aged 47, joined the Pearson board in June 2002 as chief financial officer. She was appointed chief executive of The Financial Times Group in June 2006 and became responsible for Pearson VUE in March 2008. From 1996 until 2001, she worked at ICI, where she served as executive vice president, group control and strategy. She is also chairman of Interactive Data, a non-executive director of HSBC Holdings plc and chairs the HSBC audit committee.

Robin Freestone, chief financial officer, aged 50, joined Pearson in 2004 as deputy chief financial officer and became chief financial officer in June 2006, when he also joined the Pearson board. He was previously group financial controller of Amersham plc (now part of GE). He qualified as a chartered accountant with Touche Ross (now Deloitte). He is also a non-executive director and founder shareholder in eChem Limited.

John Makinson, chairman and chief executive of The Penguin Group, aged 54, joined the Pearson board in March 1996 and was finance director until June 2002. He was appointed chairman of The Penguin Group in May 2001. He is also chairman of the Institute of Public Policy Research and a director of The National Theatre and The International Rescue Committee (UK).

* A member of the audit committee.
† A member of the personnel committee.
• A member of the nomination committee.

David Arculus,*†• aged 62, is a non-executive director of Telefónica SA and was chairman of O2 plc from 2004 until it was acquired by Telefónica at the beginning of 2006. His previous roles include chairman of Severn Trent plc and IPC Group, chief operating officer of United Business Media plc and group managing director of EMAP plc. He became a non-executive director of Pearson in February 2006.

Terry Burns,†• aged 64, is chairman of Abbey National plc, Alliance & Leicester plc and of Glas Cymru Limited and is a non-executive director of Banco Santander SA. He was previously chairman of Marks and Spencer Group plc. He was the UK government’s chief economic adviser from 1980 until 1991 and Permanent Secretary of HM Treasury from 1991 until 1998. He was appointed a non-executive director of Pearson in May 1999 and senior independent director in February 2004.

Patrick Cescau,*• aged 60, was previously group chief executive of Unilever. He is a non-executive director of Tesco plc and became a non-executive director of Pearson in April 2002.

Susan Fuhrman,*• aged 64, is president of Teachers College at Columbia University, America’s oldest and largest graduate school of education. She was previously dean of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and an officer of the National Academy of Education. She became a non-executive director of Pearson in July 2004.

Ken Hydon,*†• aged 64, is a non-executive director of Tesco plc, Reckitt Benckiser Group plc and Royal Berks NHS Foundation Trust. He was previously financial director of Vodafone Group plc and subsidiaries of Racal Electronics. He became a non-executive director of Pearson in February 2006.

CK Prahalad,• aged 67, is a distinguished university professor of corporate strategy and international business at The University of Michigan Business School. He is a director of NCR, Hindustan Unilever Corporation, World Resources Institute and The Indus Entrepreneurs. He became a non-executive director of Pearson in May 2008.

* A member of the audit committee.
† A member of the personnel committee.
• A member of the nomination committee.