East Midlands business leaders recognised in 2025 New Year’s Honours
Senior figures from the East Midlands business community are among those to have been recognised in the 2025 New Year Honours.
Warren East, Rolls-Royce (Credit: Royal Society / CC 4.0)
Warren East, the former chief executive of Rolls-Royce, is to be knighted for services to the economy and to net zero.
East was awarded the CBE in 2014, before he led the British engine manufacturer as chief executive for seven years until his retirement in 2022.
Carl Cavers, Sumo Digital
Sumo Group co-founder Carl Cavers has received an OBE for services to the video games industry. Sumo was bought by China’s Tencent Group in 2022 for more than £900m, five years after the company had floated on the Alternative Investment Market.
Tony Butler, Derby Museums
Derby Museums executive director Tony Butler has received an OBE for services to the arts. He has run Derby Museums for 10 years, overseeing the Museum and Art Gallery, the Museum of Making at Derby Silk Mill, and Pickford’s House.
Marvin Cooke, who joined the University of Derby as its Professor of Enterprise in September after a 33-year career with Toyota Motor Europe, has received an OBE for services to automotive manufacturing.
Marvin Cooke
There were also OBEs awarded to the former director of public health at Leicester City Council, Prof Ivan Browne, and Tim Porter, who was chair of animal welfare charity Blue Cross.
Manufacturing procurement specialist Ray Newell has received an MBE for services to industry in the Midlands, and Marks and Spencer’s managing director of clothing and home, Richard Price, has been recognised for services to fashion.
MBEs have also been awarded to three education leaders in the region – Andrew Cropley, chief executive of West Nottinghamshire College; Kath Kelly, chief executive of Lionheart Educational Trust in Leicestershire; and Peter Kennedy, the former principal of Franklin Sixth Form College in Grimsby.
Patricia Hewitt
Former Leicester West MP Patricia Hewitt, who served in Tony Blair’s cabinets in several roles including Health Secretary, has been made a Dame for services to healthcare transformation.
She is chair of NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board and led the Hewitt Review which was commissioned by then-Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in November 2022 to look at the role and powers of integrated care systems.
