Hotelier and Visionary
James Blair Sherwood is the founder and chairman emeritus of Orient-Express Hotels Ltd. — called Belmond Ltd. since 2014 — where he served as chairman from 1976 to 2007. He is also the founder and former president and CEO of Sea Containers Ltd, where he served from 1965 until 2005.
Mr. Sherwood is a graduate of Yale. He has been very supportive of the arts and culture of Venice, Italy. In 1994 he was made the 15th honorary citizen of Venice since the founding of the Italian Republic in 1867. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice. In 2004 he was awarded the Order of the Southern Cross by the government of Brazil.
