Steve Ridgway

Last updated

Stephen Ridgway, CBE (born 29 September 1951) is a British business executive best known for having been the CEO of Virgin Atlantic.

Contents

Early life

Ridgway was born in Tavistock, Devon, and grew up on a farm in Bantham near Salcombe. He went to school in Kingsbridge, south Devon.

He gained an Economics BSc degree (awarded by the University of London) from Oxford Polytechnic. He later gained a PGCE in 1976.

Career

Ridgway worked for Cavenham Foods as a sales manager, and briefly became a teacher. He moved to Miami and began his business career working for a builder of power boats, Ted Toleman. He worked for two years as Business Development Manager at the Toleman Group. One of these boats was the Virgin Atlantic Challenger , and he became the Chief Pilot. From 1981–1985 he worked for Cougar Marine, who built the Virgin boats.

Virgin Atlantic

Ridgway joined Virgin Atlantic in 1989. In 1990, he became managing director of Virgin Freeway. He became a board director in 1994. Formerly Virgin Atlantic's vice-president of customer services, he was appointed as managing director of Virgin Atlantic in April 1998. [1] He became Chief Executive in October 2001.

He announced his retirement as CEO of Virgin Atlantic on 10 September 2012, and left the company on 1 February 2013. [2]

He has built the £13.5m St Moritz Hotel in Trebetherick, Cornwall, with his brother Hugh.

Personal life

Ridgway has three children and lives in London and Sussex. His children were educated at St Edward's School, Oxford the same school where Sir Richard Branson had his children educated. He enjoys sailing and fast cars. He was awarded a CBE in the 2006 New Year Honours.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat Symonds</span> British motorsport engineer (born 1953)

Patrick Bruce Reith Symonds is a British motor racing engineer. He was the Chief Technical Officer at Williams Grand Prix Engineering from 2013 until 2016, having previously worked at the Benetton, Renault and Virgin Formula One teams. He is currently the Chief Technical Officer of Formula One. In September 2009, Symonds was forced to resign from the ING Renault F1 team due to his involvement in race fixing at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. After the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) conducted its own investigation, Symonds and Renault's Managing Director Flavio Briatore were banned indefinitely from any events sanctioned by the FIA, although this ban was later overturned by a French Tribunal de Grande Instance.

Robert Jeremy Hugh Lascelles is a British music industry executive and occasional musician.

Charles Lamb Allen, Baron Allen of Kensington, is a British businessman, broadcaster, and chairman of THG plc, Global Radio, 2 Sisters Food Group, ISS and Advisory chairman at Moelis & Company. Lord Allen was chief executive of Granada Group from 1996 to 2000, executive chairman of Granada Media plc from 2000 to 2004, chief executive of ITV plc from its formation in 2004 until 2007, and chairman of the music company EMI. He was chairman of Endemol, a non-executive director of Tesco plc and Virgin Media. In March 2012, he was appointed by Ed Miliband, the leader of the Labour Party, to the position of chairman of the executive board of the party. He has been chairman of the British Red Cross.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Ridgway</span>

Lieutenant General Sir Andrew Peter Ridgway, is a former British Army officer and Lieutenant Governor of Jersey. He was appointed to the latter role for a 5-year term on 14 June 2006 after a long military career.

David Baxby is the former CEO of Global Blue and former Co-CEO of the Virgin Group. He was born on 12 September 1973 in Sydney, Australia. Baxby is currently based in Sydney. As Co-CEO of the Virgin Group, Baxby was responsible for the branded investing activities of the Virgin Group globally.

Stephen Andrew Carter, Baron Carter of Barnes,, is a Scottish businessman and politician. Starting his career as CEO of J Walter Thompson UK & Ireland and COO of NTL UK & Ireland, in 2003 Carter became the founding CEO of Ofcom in the United Kingdom. He was subsequently the group CEO of Brunswick Group from 2007 until 2008, when he stepped down to join the administration of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Initially serving in 2008 as Brown's chief of strategy, principal advisor, and the Acting Downing Street Chief of Staff, he was the Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting from 2008 to 2009. Between 2010 and 2013 he held various management positions at Alcatel-Lucent, and in 2013 he became the group CEO of Informa, an information and events company.

New Year Honours were granted in the United Kingdom and New Zealand at the start of 2005. Among these in the UK were knighthoods awarded to Mike Tomlinson, the educationalist; Derek Wanless, who led a review of the National Health Service; and Brian Harrison, editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. The former athlete Kelly Holmes was made a Dame. The television presenter Alan Whicker was awarded a CBE.

Andrew James Ronald Lindsay is a British Olympic gold medal-winning rower and the co-CEO of Telecom Plus, which owns Utility Warehouse.

Chris Green is a British railway manager. He has a reputation for the adoption of business-led management of passenger services both in the British Rail and privatised eras, and has been described as "the best chairman BR never had".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warren East</span> British businessman and engineer (born 1961)

David Warren Arthur East is a British businessman and engineer. He is a former chief executive officer (CEO) of Rolls-Royce Holdings, a leading UK-based engine manufacturer, and previously held senior positions at ARM Holdings and Texas Instruments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Griffiths (businessman)</span>

Paul Griffiths FRCO is a British businessman and musician, CEO of Dubai Airports, a company based in the United Arab Emirates and wholly owned by the Dubai government. He is also a Vice President and former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Royal College of Organists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antony Jenkins</span> British business executive (born 1961)

Antony Peter Jenkins is a British business executive. Since 2016 he has been the chief executive officer of 10x Future Technologies, which he founded. He was the group chief executive of Barclays from 30 August 2012 until his dismissal on 8 July 2015.

The New Year Honours 2014 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations at the start of January.

Katherine Lyndsay Mavor, is a British charity executive and businesswoman. Since September 2023, she has been Master of St Cross College, Oxford. From 2015 to 2023, she was chief executive officer (CEO) of English Heritage. Previously, she was CEO of National Trust for Scotland from 2009 to 2015 and CEO of Project Scotland from 2005 to 2009.

Mark Ian Goldring CBE was chief executive officer of the charity Oxfam GB, Oxfam's British affiliate. He was appointed in May 2013 and resigned in 2018. Since 2020 he has been Director of Oxford-based charity Asylum Welcome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Leaman</span> Royal Navy Rear Admiral (born 1956)

Rear Admiral Richard Derek Leaman, is a British charity executive and former senior Royal Navy officer. Since 2021, he has been Diocesan Secretary and CEO of the Diocese of Bristol. He was previously CEO of The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association and CEO of the Tall Ships Youth Trust.

The 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of the Queen's Official Birthday celebrations during the month of June. The Queen's Birthday Honours for the United Kingdom were announced on 9 June; the honours for New Zealand were announced on 4 June and for Australia on 11 June.

The 2020 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations at the start of January and were officially announced in The London Gazette on 27 December 2019. Australia, an independent Realm, has a separate honours system and its first honours of the year, the 2020 Australia Day Honours, coincide with Australia Day on 26 January.

The 2021 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations at the start of January and those for 2021 were announced on 30 December 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samir Shah</span> Television & Radio Executive

Samir Shah, CBE, is a British television and radio executive. He has worked for London Weekend Television, the BBC, and is the chief executive of Juniper TV, a British company.

References

  1. "Virgin Atlantic: Press Kit" (PDF).
  2. "system-unavailable". www.virginatlantic.com. Retrieved 20 December 2020.

Video clips