Cecil Duckworth OBE

Executive Chairman

Cecil Duckworth OBE arrived in Worcester in 1958 and over the last half a century has become a key figure in transforming Worcester and in recent years Worcester Warriors. Mr Duckworth is a highly skilled and successful businessman who qualified as a Mechanical Engineer in 1961 and the following year founded Worcester Engineering. In 1970 he launched the gas fired Combi boiler which revolutionised the marketplace and put the city firmly on the global map. He helped Worcester Heat Systems grow year after year until the company was sold to Bosch of Germany in 1992. Mr Duckworth has always recognised that he built his success with the help of Worcester people and has since dedicated huge amounts of time, effort and his own money into helping to improve the quality of life of people across the county.

He served as a Governor of Worcester Sixth Form College, Worcester College of Technology and Chairman of South Worcestershire Community Healthcare NHS Trust. He helped bring Acorns Children's Hospice to the city as one of the original benefactors and has developed a top sporting club for the city to be proud of with his guidance as chairman helping Worcester Warriors establish themselves as one of the top 12 clubs in the country.

In 1998 he also founded The Duckworth Worcestershire Trust, an environmental charity dedicated to the protection and enhancement of the natural and built environments of the county. Its aims include making Worcester a safer and cleaner city and also relieving poverty among the disadvantaged people of the county.
Mr Duckworth has previously been awarded the Pride of Worcestershire Trophy and an OBE in 2005 for services to rugby and the environment in Worcestershire. He was handed the distinguished honour of Freeman of the City of Worcester in 2008.

Charlie Little

Managing Director

Charlie Little joined the Board of WRFC Trading Ltd in July 2011 having spent five years at the club in his role as General Manager. During that period, Charlie has overseen the major redevelopment of the Sixways site including the £5.5m infrastructure and Park Ride scheme and the £8m Slick Systems build. In 2011, the Club moved forward on the long-awaited development of a health and racquets club adjacent to the stadium and the arrival of a well-known hotel chain to Sixways Stadium.

Formerly Commercial Manager of Gloucester Rugby Club, Charlie has spent over 10 years in professional rugby management. In that time, he has created strong business partnerships with the unions and governing bodies that have strategically increased the awareness and reputation of Sixways as a dedicated rugby stadium. Prominent success has included hosting the Churchill Cup Final, England Super Sunday, the LV= Cup Final and securing fixtures against Argentina and Melbourne Rebels.

Charlie's previous employment has included commercial roles at Mobil Oil Company and Pirelli Tyres. Educated at Millfield School and Loughborough University, employment in the Sports Industry comes as no surprise. A former national-league hockey player, Charlie's rugby career is more suited to the office than the pitch!!

Charlie is also a Board director, representing Worcester Warriors, with Premiership Rugby.

John Crabtree OBE

Director

Formerly senior partner of Wragge & Co, the Birmingham based international law firm, John is non-executive chairman of Metalrax Group Plc, Claimar Care Group Plc, SLR Holdings Limited, Investbx Limited, TruckEast Limited, Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre Trust, Sense, the international charity for the deafblind and the Midlands advisory board of Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander.

He is also a director of Staffline Recruitment Plc and Advantage West Midlands, a former High Sheriff of the West Midlands and immediate past president of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Anthony Glossop

Director

Anthony Glossop a Cambridge law graduate, qualified as a solicitor in 1967 after a short spell in the Metropolitan Police.

He joined specialist engineers Molins Limited as Assistant Company Secretary in 1969 and moved to Redman Heenan International PLC, then a capital goods engineering group, as Company Secretary in 1972. He became its Chief Executive in 1982 in the depths of the engineering recession of that period and steered its transformation into a property group with its reverse takeover in 1986 of Clarke St. Modwen Properties Limited and change of name to St. Modwen Properties PLC.

In the following years, with Sir Stanley Clarke its Executive Chairman, he built St. Modwen to become the UK's leading regeneration specialist. He became Chairman in 2004 a position he still holds although now strictly in a non-executive capacity.

Tony Harris

Director

Tony Harris has extensive business experience and has held a number of senior roles including Chief Executive of ADT Fire & Security plc, Managing Director of NTL Business Inc and President, Business Services at BT plc. Before joining BT, Tony was an Executive Board Member for 11 years at DHL Worldwide Express.

Tony has served as a Non-Executive Director of Telspec plc and is currently a Senior Adviser to a private investment company, a Commissioner at the Audit Commission and a Non-Executive Director of DEX Corporation. Norbain Group and Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Roger Murray

Director

Roger was formerly Chief Operating Officer of Midlands Electricity plc and over the past ten years or so has held a number of non-executive directorships mostly in the West Midlands. He is presently a director of Warm Zones cic, a Newcastle based company and chairman of Care Farming West Midlands Ltd. He has been a director of WFRC (Trading) Ltd and Worcester Players Ltd since their formation in 1995.

Before professional rugby, Roger was involved with Worcester Rugby Club and chaired the committee that successfully won £1.2 million from the Lottery Sports Fund to enable the construction of the new stadium, the indoor training centre and the new club house. Roger was President of Worcester Rugby from 1998 to 2000.

He is a past vice chairman of the University of Worcester Board of Governors and is now a Fellow of the University. He continues his involvement with University affairs by sitting on the Endowment Committee. Roger can lay no claim to have played rugby at the highest level but he did turn out for his school, Norwich Colts, Norwich A and College. While living in Kent he played very social brand of rugby for Medway until his body stopped mending.

Nick Paul CBE

Director

Nick Paul was appointed Chairman of Advantage West Midlands in December 2002. Nick has extensive international business experience. Up until the end of 2000 he was Deputy Chief Executive of IMI Plc, the international engineering group. In April 2005 he was asked by the Secretary of State to Chair the MG Rover Task Force, which was set up to oversee the response of Government Agencies to the closure of MG Rover at Longbridge.

Nick was educated at Worcester Royal Grammar School, Bristol University - gaining a BSc in Mechanical Engineering, and Warwick University - where he obtained an MSc in Management & Business Studies. He is a member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering and a past member of the Institute of Management Consultants.

Currently he is Chairman of Tricorn Group Plc, an AIM listed engineering company, non-executive Chairman of Midland Expressway Limited, and is a non-executive director of Severn Valley Railway (Holdings) Plc, and WRFC Trading Ltd (Worcester Warriors). In the past, Nick has been the Chairman of the West Midlands CBI, a member of the CBI Manufacturing Council and was non-executive director with John Laing Homes plc and Sig Plc. He was also a member of the Rover Task Force in 2000 and has been a Governor at the City Technology College, Kingshurst, and Chairman of Governors at The Downs School, Colwall, Malvern.

Bill Bolsover

Director

A Fellow of the Institute of Quarrying and a Companion of the Chartered Institute of Management, Bill began his construction career in 1970 working in mining in Australia and the Koolan Islands, before joining Tarmac in 1974. He gained extensive industry experience and commercial expertise working in the Readycrete, Roadstone, Topmix and Quarry Products divisions.

In 1992, as Managing Director, he was responsible for developing the business through major strategic reviews which restructured operations and the management team. As Group Executive Director, in addition to heading up the Quarry Products and Topmix divisions, he also demerged the Building Materials business.

In 2000, Bill became Managing Director of Aggregate Industries' UK and European operations before being promoted to the position of Group Chief Executive in 2006. He became Non Executive Chairman on 1 April 2010.

Bill is a Lt Colonel of the Royal Engineer and Logistic Staff Corps RE(v) and a member of the Institution of Royal Engineers, as well as Chairman of the Construction Products Association (CPA), Vice-President of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, a board member and trustee of the UK Green Building Council, a member of the Worshipful Company of Paviors, a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce and a Freeman of the City of London, among other notable positions.

In 2009 Bill was awarded with an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Leicester and in the 2011 New Year Honours List he was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), for services to the construction industry.

John Leftwich

Director

John Leftwich is currently Non-Executive Chairman of Hotelshop UK Ltd in Droitwich, Vice-Chair of Teme Valley Business Angel Group and a Fellow of Worcester University. John, who is a Worcestershire Ambassador, is also a former Chairman of The Prince's Trust, Herefordshire & Worcestershire, a position he held for a decade.

An accomplished leader and manager, John's outstanding business career saw him work his way up through various roles in sales, marketing and computing before being appointed Director of Marketing at Apricot Computers in 1982. John was named Director of Marketing at Apple Computers UK in 1987 before becoming Corporate Vice President of Microsoft for all sales, marketing and service in Europe, Middle East and Africa - responsible for 6,500 staff over 35 countries - between 1990 and 2001.

John, who lives in Tenbury Wells with his wife and two sons, enjoys a broad spectrum of interests including adventure travel, gardening, narrowboating in Stourport and, of course, backing Worcester Warriors.