Leeds City Region Chair receives honorary doctorate for services to business and economy

Roger Marsh OBE, Chair of the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP), has this week received an honorary doctorate of the University of Huddersfield for his services to business and economy.

The ceremony, which took place on Monday, saw Mr Marsh honoured by the University and its Chancellor, His Royal Highness The Duke of York KG. During his oration, delivered by the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Bob Cryan, Mr Marsh was hailed as ‘a person of the highest calibre’ and ‘a leading figure in the economic regeneration of our region and the North’.

Mr Marsh, who began his extensive career with a near-40 year spell at world-renowned professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (now PWC) in the field of Business Recovery and Turnaround, has held many other leadership roles in the private, public and voluntary sectors, often with the aim of inclusive transformation for the North and the people who live and work in it.

As the Chair of the LEP and the only private sector member of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Mr Marsh is a central figure in delivering the organisations’ ambitions to deliver 36,000 additional jobs and £3.7 billion of economic output for Leeds City Region by 2036.

Professor Bob Cryan, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield said:

“It is entirely appropriate, indeed a privilege to confer an Honorary Doctorate of the University on this man of energy, passion and vision.

“The Partnership of which he is chair promotes the Leeds City Region’s interests on an international as well as national level, helping enterprise and business to thrive. Roger Marsh has frequently expressed his conviction that what is good for this region is also good for the North of England as a whole, and for the entire nation too.”

Roger Marsh OBE, Chair of the LEP said:

“It is a great honour to receive this esteemed award from the University of Huddersfield, one of Leeds City Region’s acclaimed higher education institutions and a great asset to the business workforce of the future.

“Abraham Lincoln once said ‘the best way to predict your future is to create it’, a sentiment I believe in the whole heartedly. I hope that this award is testament that, through public and private sector partnership, we’re creating an economy that delivers good growth and good lives for everyone who works and resides in the North.”