Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate best known for co-founding the Virgin Group in 1970, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields.
The Financial Times (FT) is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikkei, with core editorial offices across Britain, the United States and continental Europe. In July 2015, Pearson sold the publication to Nikkei for £844 million after owning it since 1957. In 2019, it reported one million paying subscriptions, three-quarters of which were digital subscriptions. In 2023, it was reported to have 1.3 million subscribers of which 1.2 million were digital. The newspaper has a prominent focus on financial journalism and economic analysis rather than generalist reporting, drawing both criticism and acclaim. It sponsors an annual book award and publishes a "Person of the Year" feature.
Virgin Group is a British multinational venture capital conglomerate founded by Richard Branson and Nik Powell in February 1970.
The Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) is the professional head of the British Armed Forces and the most senior uniformed military adviser to the Secretary of State for Defence and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The chief of the defence staff is based at the Ministry of Defence and works alongside the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Defence, the ministry's senior civil servant. The Chief of Defence is the highest ranking officer to currently serve in the armed forces.
London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees. Its motto is "To have a profound impact on the way the world does business".
Sir Paul Rupert Judge was an English business and political figure. He served as Chairman of the Royal Society of Arts, President of the Chartered Management Institute, and Deputy Chairman of the American Management Association. He also served as the Director General of the Conservative Party and a Ministerial Advisor to the Cabinet Office. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge.
The School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) is the international affairs and public policy school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university located in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, New York City. SIPA offers Master of International Affairs (MIA) and Master of Public Administration (MPA) degrees in a range of fields, as well as the Executive MPA and PhD program in Sustainable Development.
Sir Ronald Mourad Cohen is an Egyptian-born British businessman and political figure. He is the chairman of The Portland Trust and Bridges Ventures. He has been described as "the father of British venture capital" and "the father of social investment".
Andrew SentanceCBE is a British business economist. He was a Senior Adviser to Cambridge Econometrics from October 2019 to September 2023. From November 2011 until October 2018, he was Senior Economic Adviser to PwC. He was an external member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England from October 2006 to May 2011 and is a former Chief Economist at British Airways and Director of Economic Affairs at the CBI.
Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) is the business school of Lancaster University in Lancaster, England. The school's history can be traced back to the establishment of departments of marketing and of operational research at the university's foundation in 1964. These and other related departments were organised into the "School of Business and Organizational Studies" in 1969. A full range of subjects are taught, ranging from undergraduate degrees to postgraduate degrees, including executive and full-time MBAs, PhDs and post-experience executive education.
Sir Samuel Instone was a British shipping and aviation entrepreneur and the founder of the Instone Air Line.
Chris Roebuck is a British economist, focusing on leadership and organisational performance. He was honorary visiting professor of transformational leadership at Cass Business School in London, a position he has held between 2009 and 2021. He advises organisations on maximising performance through effective leadership, in particular developing entrepreneurial leadership.
Alexander Ljungqvist is a Swedish economist, educator, scholar, writer, and speaker. He is a professor of finance at the Stockholm School of Economics, where he is the inaugural holder of the Stefan Persson Family Chair in Entrepreneurial Finance. His areas of expertise include corporate finance, investment banking, initial public offerings, entrepreneurial finance, private equity, venture capital, corporate governance, and asset pricing. Professor Ljungqvist teaches Master's, MBA, and executive courses in private equity and venture capital and a PhD course in corporate finance.
Gregory Kevin O'Neill is an Australian businessman and current chairman of Watermill Capital Partners, a private family office operating a portfolio of social impact investments and philanthropic ventures. He is also chairman of the Australian Basketball Players’ Association (ABPA). He was until 17 June 2022, the President, CEO and owner of La Trobe Financial, one of Australia's leading credit asset managers with $14 billion assets under management. In 2011, O'Neill was nominated by Rainmaker Group as the 2011 Wealth Management Executive of the year. In 2016, O'Neill was the winner of the Financial Services CEO of the Year from CEO Magazine Australia.
Nathaniel Peat is a social entrepreneur and international motivational speaker. At age 25, he founded the nonprofit organization The Safety Box, which uses grassroots methods to interrupt violent behaviour, build entrepreneurship and foster achievement in young people using alternative curriculum in British schools. He is a regular television and radio commentator on youth and education.
Brian Abel-Smith was a British economist and expert adviser and one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century in shaping health and social welfare. In Britain, his research for the Guillebaud committee in 1956 proved that the NHS provided extremely good value for money and deserved more investment. From the 1960s he was one of a new breed of special advisers to Labour government ministers – helping Richard Crossman, Barbara Castle and David Ennals to reconfigure the NHS, set up Resource Allocation Working Party, and the Black Inquiry into Health Inequalities. Internationally, he steered the development of health services in over 50 countries. He was a key WHO and EEC adviser, intimately involved in setting the agenda for global campaigns such as Health for All by the year 2000.
The Branson School of Entrepreneurship is a charitable organization that provides entrepreneurial training and financial support to international youth.
Neil Record is a British businessman, author and economist who founded Record Currency Management, one of the earliest specialist currency managers. Record was one of the pioneers of currency risk management. In 2003 he wrote Currency Overlay, the first textbook on the subject. He was a short listed entrant for the 2012 Wolfson Economics Prize for his work on the Eurozone crisis.
Tamara Jill Barton is an Australian entrepreneur and the founder of MyBudget.
The 1942 New Year Honours were appointments by King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the United Kingdom and British Empire. They were announced on 30 December 1941.
British Army 
Household Cavalry (Life Guards)