Career
Having been an IDF soldier he worked as a "mazkir [secretary] of Bnei Akiva", the international Zionist youth movement.[5] He built an international training programme for young educators.
Following a management buy-out of his family ring-dealing commodity trading business Gerald Metals, Kestenbaum became Chief Executive of the Office of the Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, and then Chief Executive of the charity the United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA).[6][7] Following a restructure which involved a merger with another UK charity, the UJIA won the National Charity Award.[8]
He was Chief of Staff to Sir Ronald Cohen, the chairman of private equity firm Apax Partners, and founding Chief Executive of The Portland Trust.
Kestenbaum spent seven years as a director of the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM) between 2003 and 2010.[5]
In 2005 he became Chief Executive of The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA). Whilst at NESTA he highlighted the importance of innovation to economic growth[9][10] and was a prominent advocate for UK technology start-ups.[11][12]
In 2010 he was appointed Chairman of Five Arrows Limited, and subsequently became Chief Operating Officer of the listed investment trust RIT Capital Partners plc, (formerly Rothschild Investment Trust).[13][14] He also served as COO and Director of RIT's investment manager, J Rothschild Capital Management.
Kestenbaum has served in a number of non-executive roles. In 2015 he was appointed to the Board of Directors of Pershing Square Holdings plc. He chaired the Board of Directors of The Capital Holdings Funds (EDR Group), and also chaired GVQ Asset Management after it was bought by RIT. He has served as Chairman of Quest, a forensic accounting business and was a member of the Board of Profero, a leading digital marketing company [15] which, in January 2014, was sold to Lowe, a subsidiary of Interpublic Group (IPG).[16]
He was on the Board of the Design Council and Enterprise Insight. He served on the Governing Body of the innovation agency the Technology Strategy Board, acted as a Commissioner of the Manchester Independent Economic Review[17] and Chairman of the City of Manchester Science Review.[18]
He has completed his term of office on the Innovation Advisory Group at Imperial College and has been adjunct Professor at the Imperial College Business School, as well as a tutor at The Cass Business School. He served on the Board of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and was involved in developing the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon.[19][20]
In 2023 Kestenbaum was appointed as a Director of JPMorgan Japanese Investment Trust plc. In the same year he became a Trustee of Teach First. He sits on the Board of Windmill Hill Asset Management.[21]
Kestenbaum twice represented Great Britain at football in the Maccabiah Games - in 2001 as a player and in 2009 as Manager.[22][23][24] In 2015 Kestenbaum was appointed Honorary Life President at Maccabi GB.[25]
In December 2013, Kestenbaum was installed as Chancellor of Plymouth University.[26][27]
He currently sits on the board of the think tank Labour Together.[28]
