Loughborough Business School recognises inspiring graduates with Distinguished Alumni Awards

Professor Jan Godsell introduces the Distinguished Alumni Awards to a room of guests.

On Tuesday 25 November, Loughborough Business School held its Distinguished Alumni Awards. This celebration evening brought together alumni, academics, students and staff from across the School to acknowledge the contributions of this year’s nominees.

Year in Enterprise student Ziggy Lyons discusses creating his own visual media business.
Year in Enterprise student Ziggy Lyons discusses creating his own visual media business.

Since 2012, Loughborough University has annually recognised graduates who have demonstrated outstanding inspiration, merit, achievement or commitment to a particular role, or society, education, knowledge and research through the Distinguished Alumni Awards.

Many graduates of Loughborough Business School have gone on to achieve senior positions within their profession or achieved major milestones in their progress towards significant life goals.

The evening also saw current students afforded the opportunity to share their stories with attendees. These students showcased experiences ranging from international study exchange to setting up their own unique, independent businesses as part of the ‘Year in Enterprise’ scheme.

Professor Godsell said: "Our annual Distinguished Alumni Awards are a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the successes of our graduates and recognise the invaluable ongoing support they provide to our students, the Business School and Loughborough University as a whole.

"Since the adoption of our Progress with Purpose ethos, we have seen tremendous enthusiasm and buy-in from our alumni community, who are consistently pushing forward the mission of finding better, more sustainable and responsible ways of doing business."

This year, the three prominent alumni presented with awards for their achievements were:

Professor Jan Godsell and Dr Cheryl Travers present a Distinguished Alumni Award to Mark Sismey-Durrant.

Mark Sismey-Durrant

BSc Banking and Finance 1981

In recongition of his outstanding career in banking and support for the University

Professor Jan Godsell and Dr Cheryl Travers present a Distinguished Alumni Award to Sarah Massey.

Sarah Massey

BSc Management Sciences 1990

In recognition of her leadership in global and women's sport

Professor Jan Godsell and Dr Cheryl Travers present a Distinguished Alumni Award to Paul Humphreys.

Paul Humphreys

BSc Management Sciences 2010

In recognition of his outstanding professional achievements and support of Loughborough students.

Professor Jan Godsell and Dr Cheryl Travers present a Distinguished Alumni Award to Mark Sismey-Durrant.

Mark Sismey Durrant

Mark Sismey-Durrant has exemplified the ethos of purpose-driven leadership throughout his 48-year career in the UK banking sector. As the former Chair of the Business School Strategic Advisory Board he has offered invaluable insight, drawn from his extensive experience in leadership roles.

Today, Mark continues to shape the future of financial services as Chair of Zempler Bank (formerly Cashplus). He has recently fulfilled appointments as Chair of GB Bank, Senior Independent Director at PCF Bank, and Chair of Swedish finance group, yourCom. 

His dedication to supporting Loughborough University has seen him occupy roles including President of the Alumni Association, Chair of the Audit Committee and Chair of Loughborough Business School’s Strategic Advisory Board.  

Professor Jan Godsell and Dr Cheryl Travers present a Distinguished Alumni Award to Sarah Massey.

Sarah Massey

Sarah’s distinguished career came full circle this summer when, having left Loughborough University with a research degree in Rugby Club Marketing and Management, she became Managing Director of the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025

When she graduated in 1991, women’s rugby was still in its infancy after the inaugural World Cup. Under Sarah’s leadership, the tournament broke records for attendances, viewership and engagement and the Final drew a record 82,000 fans to Twickenham.

Sarah has since held senior leadership roles across multiple Olympic and Commonwealth Games, World Championships, and global sports federations. Before joining World Rugby, she served as CEO of the World Athletics Championships Oregon 2022, and previously held executive posts at the International Hockey Federation, overseeing hockey at both the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics.

Sarah has recently been appointed as the Director of Sport of the British Olympic Association leading the preparations for the Winter Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina and building towards the Summer Games in Los Angeles in 2028.

Professor Jan Godsell and Dr Cheryl Travers present a Distinguished Alumni Award to Paul Humphreys.

Paul Humphreys

Paul co-founded StudentCrowd with a vision to transform the way prospective university students choose where to study and live. The business and its platform were established in 2014. Since then, StudentCrowd has helped over 14 million students make informed decisions. It remains the only review platform that lists 100% of available options and ensures all reviews are written by verified students. 

Paul’s first graduate role was on the Finance Graduate Scheme at Cummins Power Generation. He later joined a small tech company, which made him an ideal guest lecturer for our enterprise modules, teaching engineers the fundamentals of business accounting. His involvement grew, and he became a regular contributor to many Business School entrepreneurship modules.

His outstanding contribution over the last decade has been to the Year in Enterprise programme, where he returns each summer to deliver workshops on small business finance, digital marketing, and search engine optimisation, mentoring our start-up founders and sharing the benefit of his experience. Over the past 10 years, he has given his time, knowledge, and expertise to support more than 200 businesses.