Latest news from Loughborough University

27 Jul 2015

Sir Nigel Rudd, DL, to step down as Loughborough University Chancellor

Sir Nigel Rudd Sir Nigel Rudd

After five years’ service as Loughborough University Chancellor Sir Nigel Rudd, DL, has announced that he will be stepping down.

Sir Nigel, Loughborough’s fifth Chancellor, has been a great asset to the University since his appointment in July 2010.

He brought with him a wealth of experience from the world of business following a hugely successful career. In 1982 he founded Williams Holdings plc, one of the largest industrial holding companies in the UK, until its demerger in November 2000, creating Chubb plc and Kidde plc. 

Sir Nigel is Chairman of Heathrow Airport Holdings Limited, BBA Aviation plc, Meggitt PLC and Aquarius Platinum Limited. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Sappi Limited. In February 2011 he became Chairman of a new £2.5 billion Business Growth Fund set up to invest in and partner hundreds of UK companies that need long term capital to achieve growth. 

Sir Nigel has also been Chairman of Pilkington plc, Alliance Boots plc, Pendragon plc and Invensys plc, and Deputy Chairman of Barclays Bank plc and Barclays PLC.

He was knighted in 1996 for services to the manufacturing industry.

Speaking about his time at Loughborough, University Vice Chancellor Professor Robert Allison said: “We are incredibly grateful for Sir Nigel’s support over the last five years.  The University has benefited enormously from his vast experience in business and industry and we all wish him well for the future.”

Sir Nigel added: “It has been an honour and pleasure to have been the Chancellor of this great University.  I will always have great memories of my time at Loughborough and the wonderful people that I have met. I hope that my successor enjoys the position as much as I have.”

The Chancellor is the Chief Ambassador of the University and presides over ceremonial functions including acting as Chairman of University Court.  The Chancellor also confers degrees on graduates of the University.

It is hoped a new Chancellor for the University will be appointed in the next academic year.

 

Notes for editors

Article reference number: PR 15/148

Loughborough is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.

It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme, putting it among the best universities in the world, and was named University of the Year in the What Uni Student Choice Awards 2015. Loughborough is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’ and is in the top 10 in England for research intensity. It was 2nd in the 2015 THE Student Experience Survey and was named Sports University of the Year 2013-14 by The Times and Sunday Times. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, Loughborough has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.

In 2015 the University will open an additional academic campus in London’s new innovation quarter. Loughborough University London, based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, will offer postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities.

Contact for all media enquiries

Hannah Baldwin

Head of Corporate Communications
Loughborough University
T: 01509 222239
E: H.E.Baldwin@lboro.ac.uk