Alderman Alastair John Naisbitt King KStJ DL (born 5 November 1968), is a British financier and asset manager, chairman of Naisbitt King Asset Management Ltd,[1] serving as the 696th Lord Mayor of the City of London for 2024/25.[2]
An elected Alderman of the City of London since 2016,[3] King was commissioned a Deputy Lieutenant for Greater London in 2022[4] and was a Sheriff of London for 2022/23.[5] King was elected as the 696th Lord Mayor taking office on 8 November 2024.
Born in 1968 at Cambridge to an academic father, Jack Naisbitt King MBE[6] (eldest son of John King by his wife Grace, daughter of James Naisbitt),[7] and artist mother, Ruth née Lewis,[8] he celebrates his Scottish ancestry.[9][10]
After attending Oundle School, King read Law at the University of Kent (BA) before pursuing further studies in Finance at London Business School (MSc).
Qualifying as a solicitor in 1995, King practiced with Baker McKenzie in the City and in Asia, where he started investing in emerging markets. Appointed a senior executive at Spark Ventures (formerly NewMedia Spark plc), then managing director of Galahad Capital plc, he was CEO of Eredene Capital plc from 2005 to 2013 and Chairman of Glendevon King Asset Management from 2005 to 2016.[11] In 2016 he founded FCA-regulated Naisbitt King Asset Management Limited,[12] specialising in managing segregated portfolios of investment grade fixed income securities.
King is also Chairman of Common Earth,[13] an environmental foundation, since January 2019.
Elected in 1999 as a Common Councillor for the Ward of Queenhithe, in 2006 he was promoted Deputy[14] and since 2016 King serves as the Ward's City Alderman.[15] Sheriff of London for 2022/23,[16] he was elected as the 696th Lord Mayor of London taking office on 8 November 2024.[17]
Lord Mayor King hosted the Amir of Qatar at the Mansion House then being invited to visit Qatar as ambassador for UK financial services.[18]
Immediate Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Masons,[19] King has served as Senior Warden of the Company of Entrepreneurs and Third Warden of the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths.[20] He is also a Liveryman of the Vintners’, Painter-Stainers’, Broderers’, Horners’, Feltmakers’ and Arbitrators’ Companies,[21] an Honorary Liveryman of the Security Professionals' Company and an Honorary Assistant of the Coachmakers’ Company.[22]
Vice-Chairman of Breast Cancer Haven and Chairman of the British Liver Trust,[23] King is also a Trustee of the Lord Mayor's Appeal[24] and of Morden College.[25]
As Lord Mayor, he is ex officio Chairman of the City Reserve Forces' and Cadets' Associations.[26]
On 13 April 2024 at the Guild Church of St Lawrence Jewry, King married (Elizabeth) Florence Walker, younger daughter of Angus Walker, Chairman of Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust.[30]
Known familiarly as Floxxie, she is a journalist as well as pursuing PhD studies in epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh[31] and serving as a Lance Bombardier in the British Army Reserve.[32] Her brothers-in-law are restaurant critic Giles Coren and Pointless host Alexander Armstrong.[33]
The couple divide their time between homes in London and Aberdeenshire.[34]