The CMA would like to offer a warm welcome this month to David Grayson, who takes up the post of Director of the newly established Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility at the School. The Doughty centre was made posssible by a personal donation of £3million by Nigel Doughty MBA 1984 (pictured below).

The Centre aspires to be the leading organisation of its kind in Europe and will look at all aspects of business in society and corporate responsibility.

David Grayson has spent most of his career as a social entrepreneur and has been involved in the set up or development of a number of public-private-community partnerships including The Prince’s Youth Business Trust, Business in the Community (BITC), Business Link, “Project North East” and the National Disability Council. David is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the “CSR Initiative” at Kennedy School at Harvard and is a regular contributor at the European Academy for Business in Society (EABIS). He was awarded on OBE in 1994 for services to industry and a CBE in 1999 for services to disability.

Speaking on his appointment, David Grayson, Director of the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility said:

“I see this as a challenge and opportunity to build the Doughty Centre into a leading Business School centre on Responsible Business, well-known for excellent, ground-breaking research informed by and informing action-learning with leading businesses, large and small.”

Nigel Doughty has made a £3million commitment to fully fund the Centre for the next five years and to set up a Trust Fund to provide funding for subsequent years.

Nigel Doughty, Co-founder of Doughty Hanson and Co. said:

“I believe that businesses can no longer simply remain indifferent to how they create value, but that there is a clear need for better definitions and guidelines in helping managers deal with this area. David Grayson is the ideal person to lead this Centre as he combines a passion for and long-commitment to responsible business as a practice area and field of research.”

Professor Michael Osbaldeston, Director of Cranfield Management School, said:

“I am delighted that David has been appointed to lead this very important new Centre at Cranfield, which has been made possible thanks to Nigel Doughty’s generosity and vision. With David’s drive and ambition and the support of the School’s existing faculty, we aim to establish a world-leading reputation for the Centre.”

David Grayson takes up his position on April 2, 2007.