CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON PRESS RELEASE
For release December 15, 1997
Contact Tina McDowell at 202-939-1120; tmcdowell@ciw.edu

CHRISTOPHER STONE ELECTED CARNEGIE TRUSTEE

Christopher Stone, chief executive of Diatech Limited, London, was elected a trustee of the Carnegie Institution of Washington at the December meeting of the Carnegie Board of Trustees. Stone brings to the board broad experience in financial management, as well as a strong interest in plant biotechnology.

Stone was born and educated in Scotland. After receiving his MA (Hons) in psychology in 1970 from the University of Edinburgh, he joined Phillips & Drew, a London stockbroker firm. In 1972 he moved to Ionian Bank in London, and, two years later, joined Warburg Investment Management Ltd (now Mercury Asset Management PLC). In 1984, he left Warburg to become chief executive of Diatech Limited, the private office of Mr. David Sainsbury (Lord Sainsbury of Turville), executive chairman and largest shareholder of J. Sainsbury PLC.
At Diatech, Stone supervises operating assets, allocates global assets for investment portfolios, appoints and monitors specialist investment managers, and supervises Diatech's activities in plant biotechnology. He is also trustee of the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, which conducts programs in technical education, plant science, mental health, and economic and social policy. He serves as trustee of the Social Market Foundation, the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, and several other Sainsbury family grant-making charities. He serves as a director for many other companies. Notably, Stone participated in the establishment, in 1987, of the Sainsbury Laboratoryfor Plant Molecular Pathology in Norwich.

Carnegie has long supported research in plant biology, and Stone's election strengthens the board's expertise in this area. The institution's Department of Plant Biology, directed by Christopher Somerville and located in Stanford, California, conducts research in plant physiology, plant pathology, molecular biology, and ecology. Notable discoveries from past years include the development of plants able to produce plastic and to store oil in their tap roots, new insights into how plants combat disease, and new information on how plants respond to elevated CO2 levels.

The Department of Plant Biology is one of five operating centers of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, a nonprofit science research and education organization founded in 1902 by Andrew Carnegie. The institution also conducts research in the earth sciences, developmental biology, and astronomy. Its Board of Trustees, led by its chairman, Thomas N. Urban, is a self-elected group of leaders in business, education, science, and public service. The institution's president is Maxine F. Singer.