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Celebrating our Honorary Graduates in the Faculty of Business awards ceremonies

TLDRoffon

In our ceremonies on Monday and Tuesday we celebrated the honorary awards for Martin Riley, Sir Leigh Lewis and Dr Tariq Abbasi MBE.

Alongside celebrating the tremendous achievements of our students we were also pleased to award three Honorary Degrees in the first two days of our July ceremonies on Greenwich campus.  We have further ceremonies taking place at Greenwich on Thursday and Friday (18-19 July) and at Rochester Cathedral next week (24-25 July).

Martin Riley, Marketing Consultant who has had a distinguished career in marketing including as Chief Marketing Officer of Pernod Ricard, International Marketing Director of Chivas Brothers and Irish Distillers and President of the World Federation of Advertisers was awarded a Honorary Doctor of Business Administration (HonDBA) in Monday's ceremony.  

Martin is a member of the Business School's Advisory Board and has given a number of presentations to students and staff as part of the 'Big Picture' seminar series. He has also spoken at the Greenwich Students' Union and the university's Marketing Society on Culture and Global Marketing of Brands.

Receiving his award, his advice to students was based on the Four Ps of Marketing, adapted for life as well as business, they are:

  • People: you're only as good as your team, seek out those that bring energy 
  • Purpose: we all want to feel our contribution makes a difference
  • Personal fulfilment: trust your instincts, you are your most valuable asset.
  • Be Practical: have your vision and stick to it and if people aren't with you initially, find a way to bring them along.

Sir Leigh Lewis, former Civil Servant & Visiting Fellow of the Business School was also awarded a Honorary Doctor of Business Administration (HonDBA) on Monday.  In his capacity as Visiting Fellow of the Business School he has delivered guest lectures to Executive MBA students and contributed to the Big Picture lecture series. In 2017 and 2018 he arranged for key speakers to take part in the university's well-regarded Brexit debates.

Speaking to students after receiving his award he offered the following advice:

Always try to do your best.  No one can ask more of you than that, and you're more likely to succeed than to fail.

Dr Tariq Abbasi MBE, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Greater London and Freeman of the Royal Borough of Greenwich was awarded an Honorary Doctor of the University (HonDUniv) at Tuesday's ceremony.  Dr Abbasi has enjoyed a broad career spanning investment banking and real estate development. 

He received his MBE in 2011 for his work on community cohesion in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and Bexley, driven particularly by his leadership of the Greenwich Islamic Centre (GIC), which is one of the UK's largest and most diverse. Dr Abassi has made an outstanding contribution to building community cohesion and inter-faith relations in the Royal Borough of Greenwich.