Burford’s board of directors (the "Board") consists of six directors. The Board has overall responsibility for Burford’s governance, strategy, risk management and key policies and engages in robust scrutiny of the business and Burford’s portfolio. The Board evaluates its own performance annually and regularly discusses improvements to its structure and processes. The Board is subject to Burford’s various integrity policies, including with respect to conflicts of interest, self-dealing and fiduciary duties. The directors are experienced and collectively well-versed in the legislative and regulatory environment in which Burford operates. The Board generally holds an in-person meeting every quarter.

The Board has determined that five directors (83%), other than the Chief Executive Officer Mr. Bogart, are independent non-executive directors under the listing standards of the New York Stock Exchange and the applicable rules and regulations of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. One of Burford’s six directors is a female (17%). Directors are required to retire at the annual general meeting immediately following their 72nd birthday.

The directors are:

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Hugh Steven Wilson is the Chair of the Board. In his role as the Chair of the Board, he focuses on strategy, decision-making and corporate governance. Mr. Wilson has served as a director on the Board since Burford’s inception in 2009 and as the Chair of the Board since May 2021. Mr. Wilson also serves as the chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee and as a member of the Compensation Committee.

Mr. Wilson spent more than 30 years at Latham & Watkins, one of the world’s largest law firms, where he was Global Co-Chair of the Mergers and Acquisitions Practice Group and chair of both the National Litigation Department and the National Mergers and Acquisitions Litigation Practice. He then joined Tennenbaum Capital Partners, a US-based private investment business, as Managing Partner and served as the Chief Executive Officer of multiple registered investment funds managed by Tennenbaum Capital Partners. After his retirement, Mr. Wilson continued to serve as a Senior Adviser to Tennenbaum Capital Partners through its acquisition by BlackRock. Mr. Wilson has served as the chair of the boards of directors and a director of numerous public and private companies.

Mr. Wilson also serves as the chair of Burford Capital Holdings (UK) Limited, one of Burford’s principal subsidiaries, to ensure non-executive oversight.

Mr. Wilson holds a BA from Indiana University, a JD from the University of Chicago Law School and a Master of Laws degree from Harvard Law School.

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Rukia Baruti has served as a director on the Board since August 2022. Dr. Baruti also serves as a member of the Compensation Committee and the Nominating and Governance Committee.

Dr. Baruti is an experienced independent arbitrator and is a qualified solicitor in England and Wales. Her career began in commercial law in the City of London in 1997. In 2006, she joined the international arbitration group at SJ Berwin LLP (later merged with King & Wood Mallesons), where she practiced arbitration and litigation until 2010.

In 2011, Dr. Baruti founded the Africa International Legal Awareness, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing African involvement in the international legal community, where she was a managing director until 2018. She also co-founded the African Arbitration Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to promotion of African arbitration practitioners, where she served as Secretary General from 2018 to 2022.

Dr. Baruti holds a bachelor’s degree in international studies from Birkbeck College, University of London, an MA in diplomatic studies and international law from the University of Westminster and a Ph.D. from the University of Geneva.

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Christopher Bogart is the Chief Executive Officer, a director and a co-founder of Burford, and he also serves as a member of its Management and Commitments Committees. Under Mr. Bogart’s leadership, Burford has become the largest global provider of legal finance and a force in the global legal market.

Before co-founding Burford, Mr. Bogart held numerous senior executive positions with Time Warner. As Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Time Warner Inc., he managed one of the largest legal functions in the world. He also served as Chief Executive Officer and one of four senior executives operating Time Warner Cable Ventures, with $9 billion in revenue and 30,000 employees, and as Chief Executive Officer of Time Warner Entertainment Ventures.

At Time Warner, Mr. Bogart played a significant role in major transactions and litigation matters including the $350 billion America Online merger; the acquisition of Turner Broadcasting, including CNN and other media properties; antitrust litigation with News Corporation; the attempted acquisition of EMI Music; a joint venture with Microsoft and Compaq; a constitutional challenge to the federal Cable Act; and a $550 million litigation matter involving the Six Flags theme park chain.

Mr. Bogart came to Time Warner from Cravath Swaine & Moore, where he was a litigator representing companies such as IBM, General Electric and Time Warner. He has also served as Chief Executive Officer of Glenavy Capital LLC, an international investment firm whose projects included Churchill Ventures, a publicly traded media and technology investment vehicle of which he also served as Chief Executive Officer, as well as Glenavy Arbitration Investment Fund, a pioneering litigation finance vehicle. He began his professional career as an investment banker with what is now JPMorgan Chase.

Mr. Bogart is a member of the Board of Advisors of the RAND Institute for Civil Justice, a Director of the International Legal Finance Association, a member of the Board of Trustees of Hackley School, Chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals of Briarcliff Manor, New York, and a member of the Board of Advisors of New York City’s Legal Aid Society.

Mr. Bogart graduated with distinction from the Faculty of Law of the University of Western Ontario, where he was the gold medalist. He served as a law clerk to the Chief Justice of Ontario.

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Robert Gillespie has served as a director on the Board since May 2020. Mr. Gillespie also serves as a member of the Audit Committee and the Nominating and Governance Committee.

Mr. Gillespie was most recently the Director General of the UK Takeover Panel. He had a lengthy career as an investment banker, spending more than 25 years at UBS and its predecessors in a range of senior positions, including Vice Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, EMEA and Joint Global Head of Investment Banking, while also serving on the Group Managing Board and the Management Committee for many years. Mr. Gillespie started his career as a Chartered Accountant at PwC.

Mr. Gillespie has previously served as a director of NatWest Group plc (formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland plc) and certain of its principal subsidiary companies and was a member of NatWest Group plc’s audit and risk committees. In addition, Mr. Gillespie has previously served as a director of Citizens Financial Group Inc. and Ashurst LLP, a law firm, and as the chairman of the board of directors of Boat Race Company Ltd., Somerset House Trust and the Council of Durham University, from which he graduated with a degree in economics.

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Christopher Halmy has served as a director on the Board since May 2022. Mr. Halmy also serves as the chair of the Audit Committee.

Mr. Halmy was most recently the Chief Financial Officer of Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY), where he led the multinational initial public offering for the company and was responsible for Ally Financial Inc.’s $25 billion investment portfolio. Before that, Mr. Halmy worked in various finance, accounting and treasury roles at JP Morgan, Bank of America and MBNA. He began his career as an auditor at Deloitte.

Mr. Halmy also serves as the non-executive chairman and chair of the audit committee of Mercury® Financial LLC and is a non-executive director of Mosaic Sustainable Finance Corp. He has previously served as a non-executive director of Spectrum Automotive Holdings Corporation prior to its sale in 2021.

Mr. Halmy earned his MBA and undergraduate degrees from Villanova University, where he currently serves as a member of the Provost Advisory Board, and is a Certified Public Accountant.

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John Sievwright has served as a director on the Board since May 2020. Mr. Sievwright also serves as the chair of the Compensation Committee and as a member of the Audit Committee.

Mr. Sievwright is the former Chief Operating Officer, International, of Merrill Lynch. Mr. Sievwright had a 20-year career with Merrill Lynch with a range of global leadership positions, including Chief Operating Officer, Global Markets and Investment Banking; President and Chief Operating Officer, Merrill Lynch Japan; and Head of Global Futures and Options (during which time he also served as the President of the Futures Industry Association). Prior to Merrill Lynch, Mr. Sievwright held finance and accounting functions at Bankers Trust and the Bank of Tokyo. He began his career as an auditor at Ernst & Young and qualified as a Chartered Accountant.

Mr. Sievwright also serves as a trustee and chairman of the audit committee for a number of Aberdeen Standard Investments closed end funds and as a non-executive director and the chairman of the risk committee of Revolut, a financial services company. He is also the chairman of the board of directors of Buyside Trading Solutions, a financial services company. Mr. Sievwright has previously served as the senior independent director and chairman of the audit and risk committee at ICAP plc (now NEX Group plc) and the senior independent director and chairman of the audit committee of FirstGroup plc. He has an MA in accountancy and economics from the University of Aberdeen.

Burford’s expected plan for the future of the Board, to be implemented at the 2024 annual general meeting, is as follows:

  • Hugh Steven Wilson will retire as Chairman and a non-executive director
  • John Sievwright, a director since 2020, is expected to become Chairman and to serve in that role until the 2027 annual general meeting, at which time he will retire from the Board
  • Christopher Halmy, a director since 2022, is expected to become Vice Chairman and to serve in that role until the 2027 annual general meeting, at which time he is expected to become Chairman
The foregoing plans are subject to subsequent amendment in the event of unforeseen circumstances.