David Marsh is Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of OMFIF. Before starting at OMFIF in late 2009, he worked for City merchant bank Robert Fleming, corporate finance boutique Hawkpoint, German management consultancy Droege and London investment firm London & Oxford. Marsh took over the chairmanship from John Plender in January 2018 having been Managing Director since 2014. He reverted to an executive role after John Orchard stepped down in October 2024 following five transformative years as Chief Executive Officer.
Marsh is a visiting Professor at Sheffield University and King’s College London. He is former co-founder, chairman and deputy chairman of the German-British Forum. He was made Commander of the British Empire in 2000 and was awarded the German Order of Merit (Bundesverdienstkreuz) in 2003.
He started his career at Reuters in 1973 having graduated with a BA in chemistry from The Queen’s College Oxford. Between 1978 and 1995 he worked for the Financial Times in France and Germany, latterly as European Editor in London. Marsh has written six books on politics and economics, mainly on Germany and Europe. His seventh book, Can Europe Survive? The Story of a Continent in a Fractured World, will be published by Yale University Press in autumn 2025.