We are proud to share that our Chair, John Spiers has been appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), in the 2026 New Year’s Honours List, recognising his outstanding contributions to the business and charitable world.
As our current Chair, and former CEO, he has played a pivotal role in shaping EQ’s growth and success while keeping our core values of excellence and integrity.
John launched EQ Investors (EQ) in 2014, positioning the business as an ethical alternative within the wealth management industry, and free of short-term pressures from outside shareholders.
EQ was one of the first UK companies to be awarded B Corporation status in 2015 – meaning it has a legal requirement to balance profit with purpose.
The EQ Foundation was established as a registered charity with an initial emphasis on supporting charities tackling the lack of social mobility.
In recent years, John has been focused on making it easier to identify high achieving charities. ‘Giving is Great’ is an open-source website that analyses every UK registered charity (more than 200,00) and is now used widely by philanthropists as a due diligence tool
Prior to EQ, John founded Bestinvest (now part of Evelyn Partners) which he sold to 3i in 2007. At the time of the sale, Bestinvest was one of the fastest growing wealth management companies in the UK with over 50,000 clients. He returned in October 2008 as CEO, to help lead the company through the global financial crisis.
John is a long-term advocate of employee ownership, having seen first-hand the strategic and ethical rewards of adopting a model which aligns the interests of employees with that of the business. At both EQ and Bestinvest he adopted this model, with employees buying into the respective businesses.
This prestigious honour reflects John’s outstanding contributions to the business and charitable sectors over a distinguished career.
Reacting to the news of receiving an MBE, John said:
“I am humbled and grateful that my work has been recognised. None of my achievements would have been possible without the efforts of countless others and I thank them all from the bottom of my heart.”
