Alan Lewis appointed as Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurship
Tue, 04 Feb 2014 11:31:00 GMT
Businessman and entrepreneur Alan Lewis joins the University of Huddersfield as Visiting Professor
Entrepreneur Alan Lewis (above left and below) with the University of Huddersfield's Vice-Chancellor Professor Bob Cryan (above right) discusses the 3M Buckley Innovation Centre with Prime Minister David Cameron.
ONE of the UK’s top businessmen, Alan Lewis, has been appointed Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Huddersfield.
Mr Lewis’s honours also include a CBE for his role with the Confederation of British Industry when preparing business to enter the European single market.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield, Professor Bob Cryan, is delighted that Mr Lewis has accepted his new professorial role, which will see him delivering guest lectures.
“We already have a strong relationship with Alan through the Globe Innovation Centre. The professorship is a natural extension of this. Alan is one of the country’s leading entrepreneurs and his experience will benefit our students tremendously. He is very positive, extremely entrepreneurial and passionate about helping the next generation of entrepreneurs.”
Mr Lewis has also shown his support for the University of Huddersfield by providing bursaries to contribute to the tuition fees of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, added Professor Cryan.
Alan Lewis, who owns the Hartley Group, which has a portfolio of international businesses and projects is also passionate about the regeneration of Yorkshire’s industrial base. That passion includes the ambitious redevelopment of the historic Globe Mills in Slaithwaite, near Huddersfield, into the Globe Innovation Centre. The University is a partner in this scheme.
The Globe Innovation Centre project has recently gained planning permission and will play an important role in the economic regeneration of the region.
“Part of Globe Innovation Centre will be grow-on space for start-up businesses at our 3M Buckley Innovation Centre and it will give them the physical space to grow and develop their businesses leading to much needed economic regeneration,” explained Professor Cryan, whose university is the current Times Higher Education’s University of the Year and last year was the recipient of two Queen’s Award for Enterprise. In 2012, the University of Huddersfield was also named as the Entrepreneurial University of the Year.
- Mr Lewis’s Hartley Investment Trust and Group has its roots in the West Yorkshire textile industry and although it now focuses on investment in innovation, property, finance and natural resources, including the development of several business parks based at former factories such as Globe Mills, it also includes the luxury clothing brand Crombie, based in Leeds and famed for its luxury coats.
