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Kenneth Johann Costa, commonly known as Ken Costa, (born 31 October 1949) is a London-based banker and Christian philanthropist. He served as the Chairman of Lazard from 2007 to 2011.
He graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand, where he received a bachelor's degree in Law and Philosophy in 1972. Ken Costa, Bloomberg Business During that time, he was the President of the students' council and identified as a Marxism. He was an opponent of the apartheid regime and friends with fellow anti-apartheid activists like Ahmed Timol and Steve Biko.
He went on to receive a Masters of Law Degree and a Certificate in Theology from Queens' College, Cambridge in England.
He served as the Chairman of Lazard International from 2007 to 2011.Kasmira Jefford, Qatari hires veteran banker Ken Costa to board of Songbird, City A.M., 12 December 2014 He was an advisor to Mohamed Al-Fayed on his 1.5 billion sale of Harrods to the royal family.
In 2011 with other bankers he set up DMC Partners, a private equity fund that aimed to raise $2bn to invest in emerging markets. But the fund had to close in 2014 after failing to raise enough money.
In December 2014, he joined the Board of Directors of Songbird Estates, which owns 70% of Canary Wharf, replacing Khalifa Al-Kuwari.Russell Lynch, Qatar appoints Ken Costa to Songbird board as battle for Canary Wharf takes new twist, The Independent, 11 December 2014
In 2018 he became a Partner and Co-Chairman of Alvarium Investments, a private wealth management business, offering corporate finance deals to ultra-wealthy families.
Costa dismissed concerns about Saudi Arabia’s purchase of Newcastle United Football Club as just “noise” created by people jealous of the investment. His comment was criticised by Amnesty International and Layla Moran, foreign affairs spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, who said “The Saudi Arabian government has one of the worst human rights records in the world: brushing that off as just noise is outrageous.”
He was Professor of Commerce at Gresham College and he is the dean of Leadership College London.
In 2017, UK Prime Minister Theresa May appointed Costa as the UK government’s special envoy to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030.
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