title: Gresham Professor of Commerce
text: # Gresham Professor of Commerce
  
  The Professor of Business at Gresham College, London, gives free educational lectures to the general public. The college was founded for this purpose in 1597, when it appointed seven professors; this has since increased to ten and in addition the college now has visiting professors. The Mercers' School Memorial Professor of Commerce chair was created in 1985; in 2018 it was renamed the Mercers' School Memorial Professor of Business.
  
  The Professor of Business is always appointed by the Mercers' School Memorial Trust, which is administered by the Worshipful Company of Mercers. One of the early 18th-century professors, John Ward, was the author of a book about the professors, published in 1740.
  
  ## List of Gresham Professors of Business
  
  | | Name | Started |
  | - | - | - |
  | 1. | Jules Goddard | 1985 |
  | 2. | Jack Mahoney SJ | 1988 |
  | 3. | Walter Eltis | 1 September 1993 |
  | 4. | Tom Cannon | 1 September 1996 |
  | 5. | Daniel Hodson | 1 September 1999 |
  | 6. | Avinash Persaud | 1 September 2002 |
  | 7. | Michael Mainelli | 1 September 2005 |
  | 8. | Kenneth Costa | 1 September 2009 |
  | 9. | Douglas McWilliams | 1 September 2012 |
  | 10. | Jagjit Chadha | 2014 |
  | 11. | Alex Edmans | 2018 |
  