Maurice Samuel Ostro

Ostro is an alumnus of the Gemological Institute of America, Harvard Business School and New York University. In 1987 he gained a Masters in Jurisprudence at Oxford University’s Wadham College and was then admitted to the New York Bar in 1988.[5]

Ostro started his career in the gemstone industry after becoming a graduate gemologist in the early 1980s.

In 1992, he founded a frozen yogurt company called Glasay International PLC. The company became the largest supplier of frozen yogurt to the airline sector.[6][7] Glasay was sold in 2001.[8]

He founded Air Fayre, an airline catering company in 1999.[9][10][11] Air Fayre was sold to Watermark PLC in 2004.[12][13][14]

In 2002, Ostro founded Media on the Move, to supply media content to airlines, shipping companies and train lines.[15][16][11] It was sold to Watermark PLC in 2003. In 2006, with Ostro already serving as managing director of two of the company’s divisions, Watermark appointed him as its CEO.[17][18]

Upon his Father’s death in 2010, Ostro assumed responsibility for the UK operations of the family gemstone business, Ostro Minerals.[19][20]

Ten percent of Ostro’s companies’ profits go to charities. He's also the founder of the charity, the Ostro Fayre Share Foundation.[21]

In 2008, Ostro became a Vice Chair of the Council of Christians and Jews. He was the initiator and Organising Committee Chair for the then London Mayor Boris Johnson's first Interfaith Conference in 2010.[22] Ostro then instigated and funded the creation of the Faiths Forum for London.[20] He also created Entrepreneurial Giving, a movement that encourages businesses towards charity work.[23]

In 2014, Ostro funded and supported the co-location of multiple charities working in the same sector through the creation of a charitable working space called Collaboration House.[24][25] Working with some of these charities and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), his foundation provides training to over 800 religious institutions, through a nationwide initiative called Strengthening Faith Institutions (SFI).[26]

In the wake of COVID-19, Ostro formed the Business Action Council (BAC), a coalition of multiple business organisations in the UK, developing recommendations for the Government on assisting small businesses and entrepreneurs.[27][28][29]

• Since 2014, Ostro has served on the Education Expert Group for the Prime Minister's Commission on the Holocaust[30][31]
• From 2003 to 2005, Ostro was part of Prime Minister Tony Blair's Strategy Unit on improving life chances of disabled people[32]
• From 2001 to 2005 he served on the SME Board of the National Employment Panel of the Department of Work and Pensions[33]

Maurice is married to Katy.