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Global power systems company Rolls Royce has announced University of Nottingham graduate John Rishton as the company’s new Chief Executive.
John Rishton (Economics 1979) will take up the post in March next year following the retirement of the current Chief Executive Sir John Rose.
A former Chief Financial Officer of British Airways Plc, John also worked for Ford Europe in various executive positions. He is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of the Dutch retail group Royal Ahold, a position he has held since 2007.
John has also been a non-executive director of Rolls-Royce since 2007 and chairs the Audit Committee. He joined Ahold on January 1, 2006 as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Ahold's shareholders appointed him to the Corporate Executive Board later that year.
He said: “It has been an honour and a privilege to work with the outstanding people at Ahold. I wish everyone at the company great success for the future.
"Rolls-Royce is an outstanding company which I have come to know well since joining the Board. It has a tremendously strong executive team which has been led with distinction by John Rose. I feel extremely proud and excited by the opportunity to take the strategy forward and to lead Rolls-Royce into its next phase of development.”
Sir Simon Robertson Chairman of Rolls-Royce, said of Sir John Rose: “With John Rose at the helm, the Group has developed into a truly global company, it has built a powerful portfolio, and constructed a platform from which we expect revenues to double in the decade ahead. This presents a tremendous opportunity which I know John Rishton and the rest of the management team will take forward.
“Since joining the Board John Rishton has gained a deep understanding of Rolls-Royce and established an excellent relationship with the management team. He has a proven track record as a Chief Executive of a global company and has a background in aerospace and manufacturing. He was the unanimous choice of the Board and I am certain will do an outstanding job at Rolls-Royce.”
Rolls-Royce, a world-leading provider of power systems and services for use on land, at sea and in the air, has established a strong position in global markets - civil aerospace, defence aerospace, marine and energy.
As a result of this strategy, Rolls-Royce today has a broad customer base comprising more than 600 airlines, 4,000 corporate and utility aircraft and helicopter operators, 160 armed forces, more than 2,000 marine customers, including 70 navies, and energy customers in nearly 120 countries, with an installed base of 54,000 gas turbines.
In 2009, Rolls-Royce invested £864 million on research and development, two thirds of which had the objective of further improving the environmental aspects of its products, in particular the reduction of emissions. Annual underlying revenues were £10.1 billion in 2009, of which about half came from services revenues.
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More than 90 per cent of research at The University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to the most recent Research Assessment Exercise, with almost 60 per cent of all research defined as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’. Research Fortnight analysis of RAE 2008 ranked the University 7th in the UK by research power.
The University’s vision is to be recognised around the world for its signature contributions, especially in global food security, energy & sustainability, and health.
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