City leaders recognised for services to business in New Year honours
The Square Mile has weathered a turbulent year, and as 2017 comes to a close, business leaders have been recognised for their work to promote UK industry through a period of immense change.
Business leader Ken Olisa, former Lord Mayor of London Andrew Parmley, and City grandee Anthony Habgood, have been given knighthoods. Vivian Hunt, managing partner at McKinsey, has been made a dame.
Olisa founded merchant bank Restoration Partners and was appointed the Lord Lieutenant of London in 2015 by the Queen. He is also active in the charity sector, and has been honoured today for his contributions to both business and philanthropy.
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Parmley ended his term as Lord Mayor this year, handing over the post to Charles Bowman. Parmley was first elected as a member of the City of London Corporation 25 years ago, and during his time as Lord Mayor, worked to ensure the government gave businesses and the Square Mile a transition period when the UK leaves the EU.
Habgood is current chair of the Court of the Bank of England, the central bank’s governing body, and is chair of Relx. He has been chief executive of Bunzl, and was chairman of Whitbread. Today, the City boss has been rewarded for his services to UK industry.
Hunt is currently managing partner for the UK and Ireland at McKinsey. She has been a powerful advocate for diversity at the firm, and has been tipped as a possible contender to head up the consultancy giant. She is also a civic leader, sitting on the advisory council of the Tate Modern and the Southbank Centre, Teach First’s business leaders council, and she also sits on the mayor of London’s business advisory board.
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Lloyd’s of London’s former chairman John Nelson has been made CBE. The former investment banker stepped down this year after six years in the prestigious post, and has been recognised today for promoting workplace diversity and the role of UK business across the world.
The tech sector was well-represented in the list, with Demis Hassabis, co-founder of DeepMind, receveing a CBE. He founded the London-based artificial intelligence firm in 2011, and sold it to Google for a reported £400m in 2014.
Jacqueline de Rojas, president of techUK, the representative organisation for the sector, has been made a CBE. She is also a non-executive director at Rightmove.
Suranga Chandratillake, general partner at London venture capital firm Balderton Capital, has been made an OBE for his services to engineering and technology. He was previously an executive at Autonomy and founded spin-off video company Blinkx.