Karan Bilimoria

Lord Karan Bilimoria CBE DL is the founder of Cobra Beer, a household brand in the UK and one of the most awarded beers in the world. In 2006, Karan Bilimoria was appointed as the Lord Bilimoria of Chelsea, becoming the first-ever Zoroastrian Parsi to sit in the House of Lords. In January 2025 Karan was appointed Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) United Kingdom. He served as President of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) from 2020 to 2022. In June 2022, Karan was appointed a Trustee of Policy Exchange. In 2025 Lord Bilimoria became a Co-Chair of the Digital Transformation Taskforce at the B20 South Africa, and was appointed Senior Fellow to the Milken Institute Europe and joined the Advisory Council for the Milken Institute’s Investing in Europe’s Competitiveness Initiative. He is the second Visiting Entrepreneur at the University of Cambridge and a founding member of the Prime Minister of India’s Global Advisory Council. He is a Co-chair of the India All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) and is the Founding Chairman of the UK India Business Council. From July 2014 to July 2024, he served as the seventh Chancellor of the University of Birmingham, becoming the first Indian-born Chancellor of a Russell Group University in Great Britain. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young (EY) through the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and graduated in Law from Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge.