Management & Governance

Sir Richard Sykes

Sir Richard Sykes BSc (Microbiology), PhD (Microbial Biochemistry), DSc, Kt, FRS, FMedSci, age 65

Appointment and election: Director of Rio Tinto plc and Rio Tinto Limited since 1997. Sir Richard was appointed the senior non executive director in 2005 and is chairman of the Remuneration committee. Sir Richard was re-elected for a further one year term of office in 2007 and will retire at the conclusion of the annual general meetings in 2008 (notes b, c and e).

Skills and experience: After reading microbiology at the University of London, Sir Richard obtained doctorates in microbial chemistry and in science from the University of Bristol and the University of London respectively. A former chairman of GlaxoSmithKline plc Sir Richard is a Fellow of the Royal Society. He is currently Rector of Imperial College London.

External appointments (current and recent):
Director of Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation plc since 2007
Director of Lonza Group Limited since 2003, Deputy Chairman since 2005
Chairman of the Healthcare Advisory Group (Apax Partners Limited) since 2002
Chairman of Metabometrix Ltd since 2004
Chairman of Merlion Pharmaceuticals Pte Limited since 2005
Chairman of OmniCyte Ltd since 2006
Chairman of Circassia Ltd since 2007
Director of Abraxis BioScience Inc from 2006 to 2007
Director of Bio*One Capital Pte Ltd since 2003
Rector of Imperial College London since 2001
Chairman of GlaxoSmithKline plc between 2000 and 2002
Trustee of the Natural History Museum, London between 1996 and 2005 and of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew between 2003 and 2005

Notes
(a) Audit committee
(b) Remuneration committee
(c) Nominations committee
(d) Committee on social and environmental accountability
(e) Independent