David Bell is former Chairman of the Financial Times Group and Chairman of Pearson Inc., a British-based global media company. As Director for People at Pearson, he was responsible for the company’s staff of 35,000. Pearson's companies include the Financial Times, the Penguin Group, and Pearson Education. Educated at Cambridge University and the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Bell joined the Oxford Mail and Times in 1972 and later joined the Financial Times, where he became Managing Editor and later Director of Advertising. Appointed Chief Executive of the Financial Times Group in 1993, he became a director of Pearson in 1996. Mr. Bell serves as a non executive director of The Economist, the Chairman of Crisis, a British charity for the homeless, and Chair of Sadlers Wells, one of Europe’s leading modern dance theatres.