Theo Paphitis chairs at Graduations
Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:11:00 GMT
Dragons’ Den entrepreneur presents Huddersfield professor with an honorary award
The BBC’s lead Dragon was delighted to accept the University’s invitation to chair the awards ceremony for a Huddersfield professor.
Dragons’ Den businessman and entrepreneur Theo Paphitis has become a close friend of the University’s Professor of Entrepreneurship, Professor John Thompson (pictured receiving his award from Theo Paphitis).
The celebrated entrepreneur 
conferred the award of Emeritus Professor on the University’s retiring professor, who has worked at the institution since 1972.
As Mr Paphitis told the graduating students and their families in the St Paul’s Hall, “Very few people successfully negotiate their way into my office unless they have an excellent proposition”.
Professor Thompson (pictured right) had just that and it was his suggestion that ‘The Dragon’ may wish to be involved in a new young entrepreneurs’ degree course that 
caught the businessman’s imagination.
For the last three years Mr Paphitis (pictured given his speech at the Awards Ceremony) has supported Professor Thompson by mentoring the BA(Hons) Enterprise Development students, giving guest lectures and by acting as an ambassador for the course. The unique degree course is designed to help young entrepreneurs start and run their own business whilst studying for a degree.
Professor John Thompson started as a marketing lecturer at Huddersfield but switched to teach strategy after completing his MBA. In 1984 he led the submission to CNAA for the part-time MBA – at a time when MBAs were much less ubiquitous – and then ran the degree until he was appointed Head of the Department of Management in 1996. During this period, in 1990, he wrote the first edition of his Strategic Management textbook – the seventh edition is due for publication in 2013.
He was awarded a Chair in Entrepreneurship in 1997 and over 300 people attended his inaugural professorial lecture.
Through his work with the Duke of York’s Community Initiative, Professor Thompson was responsible for two visits to the University by HRH The Duke of York in 2000 and 2001; and he was presented to Her Majesty The Queen at the Kirklees Media Centre in 2007. In 2009 he received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion.
Mr Paphitis received an honorary award from the University of Huddersfield in 2009.
He also toured the University's new 3M Buckley Innovation Centre recently, see him talk more about his visit in the video.
