John Frederick Nelson

John Frederick Nelson (born 26 July 1947) is the Chairman of Lloyd's of London. Nelson is a chartered accountant.

Nelson joined Kleinwort Benson in 1971, spending 15 years at the company working in both the UK and the US. He was the Vice President of the company from 1973 to 1975 and the Director between 1980 and 1986. He then spent 13 years with Lazard Brothers as Managing Director between 1986 and 1998 and as Vice Chairman from 1990 to 1998. Nelson was also a chairman of Lazard S.p.A. in Italy and a managing director of Lazard Freres, New York. He became a Chairman of Credit Suisse First Boston Europe in 1999 and continued to do that until 2005. In January 2002, he was appointed Deputy Chairman of Kingfisher plc. Nelson was due to retire from this role in 2011.

John Nelson was a non-executive director of Woolwich Building Society from 1998 until it was taken over by Barclays Bank in 2000. Nelson was also a board member of the BT Group from 2002 to 2008.

Nelson was the Director of J.P. Morgan Cazenove Holdings Ltd and Cazenove Group Ltd between 2008 and 2010 and was the Chairman of the London Investment Banking Association (LIBA) between 2001 and 2002. He joined Hammerson plc in 2004 and became its Chairman in 2005. He was also the Senior Advisor of Charterhouse Capital Partners LLP since 2006.

On 18 April 2011, the Council of Lloyd's confirmed John Nelson as the next chairman of Lloyd's. He took office in October 2011.

Nelson enjoys sailing and opera and was the Director of the English National Opera from 2002-2010. He is also a trustee of the National Gallery in London. John Frederick Nelson is the son of George Frederick Nelson and Betty Violet Roddick. Nelson married Caroline Vivien Hannam in 1976 and they have two sons and a daughter.