Alison Davis

Alison Davis is a global strategist, finance professional, board director, and active investor, with extensive expertise in the financial services sector. She is co-founder of Fifth Era, which advises the boards and management of leading companies, conducts business development projects, and selectively invests in innovative teams and start-ups.

She is currently Director of Royal Bank of Scotland, Fiserve, Unisys, Diamond Foods, and Ooma. She has previously been director of First Data Corporation, City National Bank, Xoom, and Chairman of LECG. She has chaired committees on audit, compensation, and governance, and is a frequent speaker on corporate governance.

Before her current positions, Alison held the position of managing partner of Belvedere Capital, a private equity firm focused on investing in US banks and financial services firms. Previously, Alison was the CFO of Barclays Global Investors (now called BlackRock), the world’s largest institutional investment firm managing more than $1.5 trillion of assets. Prior to this, Alison spent 14 years as a strategy consultant and advisor to Fortune 500 CEOs, boards and executive teams with McKinsey & Company, and as a practice leader with A.T. Kearney, where she built and led the global Financial Services Practice.

Alison is active in the community, supporting non-profits and social enterprises as a board director, fundraiser and volunteer. She has been frequently named a “Most Influential Women in Business” by the San Francisco Business Times. She received a B.A. Honors and a Master’s in Economics from Cambridge University in England, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business after completing the first-year at Harvard.