Johan Eliasch

Johan Eliasch was born in February 1962, in Djursholm, Sweden. His grandfather, G. A. Svensson, was a leading Swedish industrialist. He graduated in Stockholm with a Master of Science from the Royal Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Stockholm University. Eliasch served in a specialist unit at the Life-Guard Dragoons, Military Police, K1, Stockholm, Sweden (1980–81). Eliasch was an active athlete, competing in skiing, golf, tennis, curling, sailing, football, ice hockey and motor racing.

Eliasch began his career in company turnarounds in 1985, when he joined Tufton Group, the London-based investment firm. In 1991, he established his own private investment group, Equity Partners.

When Head Tyrolia Mares was up for auction in 1995, Eliasch spotted an opportunity. The beleaguered sporting goods company was $370million in debt, but through financial restructuring, acquisitions and investment in new technology, Eliasch turned the company, renamed Head, into a global success as CEO from 1995 to 2021.

Eliasch has also been non-executive chairman of Investcorp Europe (2010–2014), a non-executive director of IMG (2006–13), non-executive chairman and director of Starr Managing Agents (2008–2015), and chairman of Aman Resorts (2014–18). He is chairman of Equity Partners and London Films, as well as an advisory board member of Brasilinvest.Eliasch has used his business experience to advise politicians and policymakers, including as a member of the International Business Advisory Councils for the Mayors of London, Jerusalem, and Rome.

He was married to Amanda Eliasch, a photographer and filmmaker, from 1988 to 2006; they have two sons. Their son Charles Eliasch is an opera singer.

Eliasch has a longstanding interest in arts and culture, and is chairman of the Saatchi Gallery in London, which since 1985 has presented contemporary art exhibitions showcasing the work of emerging artists. He is also a patron of his alma mater, Stockholm University.

Eliasch has been an advisory board member of the Shimon Peres Peace Centre, World Peace Foundation, the Centre for Social Justice, and the Kew Foundation, Royal Botanical Society.

He has credits in film production including Scarlet Pimpernel, Lady Chatterley, Best of Friends and Resort to Murder.

Starting in 1997, Eliasch served the Conservative Party in different roles, including as Deputy Treasurer and Advisor to the Leader, Shadow Foreign Secretary, and European Affairs. He was appointed as a non-political special representative of Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown on deforestation and clean energy.

Eliasch was a member of the Austrian president's delegation of State for Trade and Industry (1996–2006). He was chairman of the Young Conservatives Party in Djursholm, Sweden, from 1979 to 1982.

Eliasch met Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in the 1990s and organised a charity tennis match between John McEnroe and Björn Borg in aid of the NSPCC at Buckingham Palace. He was a director along with the Duke of a company called Naples Gold.

In 2006, Eliasch co-founded the Global Strategy Forum with the late Rt Hon Michael Ancram, the Marquess of Lothian, and became the foundation's first president.