Despite the Swire group’s diverse and international focus, it is still very much a family concern, with a number of Swire family members actively involved in the business. The current Chairman of the Swire group, Barnaby Swire, and the Chairman of Swire Pacific, Merlin Swire, are the great-great-great grandsons of John Swire of Liverpool, who founded the business over 200 years ago. Merlin’s brother Sam is a Director of John Swire & Sons Limited. Barnaby's father, the late Sir John Swire CBE, was former Chairman of the Swire group (1966-1987) and Life President (1997-2016); Merlin and Sam’s father, the late Sir Adrian Swire, was former Chairman of the Swire group (1987-1997 and 2002-2005) and Honorary President (2005-2018).