About me
A steadfast philanthropist and social leader, Brooks Newmark has dedicated his career to building strong and healthy communities. Currently, Newmark divides his expertise across a broad swath of professional interests. In his home of Braintree, Exeter, he serves as the president of a Braintree Community Foundation, an organisation which supports local activists and residents carry out projects to improve local society. Newmark further dedicates his time to his work at Oxford College, where he researches for the Department of International Politics and International Relations. He also maintains a presence in the business sector by sitting on the board of directors for investment firms Telesis Management Ltd. and Apollo Alternative Investments MIP. As he moves forward in his career, Brooks Newmark intends to bring the skills gleaned from his academic and corporate career to bear in favour of his philanthropic projects and spark a blaze of positive social change in the greater community.
Though philanthropy would come to define the later years of his career, the first steps of Brooks Newmark’s professional journey veered towards business. He graduated from Harvard Business School with an MBA in finance in 1984; at that point, he also held a BA in history from Harvard College and a research graduate in politics from Worcester College at Oxford. Shortly after receiving his MBA, Newmark accepted a position as a Vice President for the International Division of Shearson Lehman Brothers. Over the course of the next decade, Newmark took on a series of high-level leadership positions in the financial sector, including a Senior Partnership at the international private equity firm Apollo Management LP, before taking a seat on the directorial boards for investment firms Telesis Management Ltd and AAA MIP Limited in 2005 and 2006, respectively. He maintains both leadership positions to this day.
Proficiency in business aside, Brooks Newmark is perhaps best-known for his work in politics. Newmark made his first forays into conservative politics as a Member of Parliament for Braintree in 2005 and remained active in the field until 2015. Newmark took on a number of roles during his decade working as an MP: he served on the Treasury Select Committee from 2006-2007 and 2012-2014, acted as Whip in Opposition from 2007-2010, and worked as Government Whip and Lord Commissioner of HM Treasure from 2010-2012. Newmark additionally merged his passion for philanthropy and interest for politics when he became Minister for Civil Society in 2014, thereby taking responsibility for charity, volunteer, and social enterprise activity in the UK. During his time in government, Brooks Newmark received considerable acclaim for his work with Women2Win, a programme that he co-founded and co-chaired from 2005 until 2015. The programme launched with the goal of helping women enter politics and public service; within a decade, it succeeded in raising the number of Conservative female MPs from 17 to a comparably lofty 68.
Brooks Newmark stepped away from political life in 2015 to focus on his academic interests. He currently holds a research position at Oxford University and delves into topics within the field of international politics and finance. Newmark also regularly gives guest lectures on private equity at Said Business School and often travels to universities beyond the United Kingdom to discuss topics within his academic scope. In the past, he has written a breadth of scholarly articles on international issues, including subjects such as Brexit, the Syria conflict, U.S. Politics, and homelessness. His most recent project centres on the last: Newmark chaired a report on homelessness for the Centre of Social Justice in early 2017.