Martin Gilbert

Martin James Gilbert was born on 13 July 1955 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to a Scottish rubber-planting family. He was educated at Robert Gordon's College in Aberdeen and studied law and accountancy at the University of Aberdeen. After qualifying as a chartered accountant with Deloitte, he embarked on a transformative career in finance spanning nearly five decades.

In 1983, Gilbert co-founded Aberdeen Asset Management, which he led as CEO until the company merged with Standard Life in 2017. Under his leadership, Aberdeen Asset Management grew to become one of the world's leading independent asset managers with £308 billion of assets under management. The merger created the UK's largest asset management firm and the second biggest in Europe. Following the merger, he served as vice chairman of Standard Life Aberdeen until stepping down in September 2020.

Gilbert is chair of Revolut and senior independent director of Glencore. In 2015, Harvard Business Review ranked him 22nd out of over 900 in its list of the world's top-performing CEOs. He was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2017. Gilbert holds honorary degrees from the University of Aberdeen, Robert Gordon University, and Heriot-Watt University.

Career history

• Chairman, Revolut Ltd (current)
• Chairman of Aberdeen Standard Investments (2017–September 2020)
• Co-CEO of Standard Life Aberdeen (2017–2019)
• CEO and Co-founder of Aberdeen Asset Management (1983–2017)
• Chairman of FirstGroup (April 1995–January 2014)
• Deputy Chairman of Sky plc (2016–2018)

What Martin Gilbert could bring to Revolut: Gilbert's appointment as Chairman leverages his deep expertise in building and scaling a world-class financial services institution from inception through international expansion and strategic merger. His track record of transforming Aberdeen Asset Management into a £308 billion-asset enterprise through organic growth and acquisitions, combined with his regulatory relationships and senior board experience at major FTSE institutions and financial platforms, positions him to guide Revolut's governance, regulatory strategy, and growth as the fintech pursues further market expansion and profitability.