Queen’s New Year Honours 2022: Thriplow resident William Russell knighted
Thriplow resident and former Lord Mayor of the City of London William Russell has been awarded a knighthood.
Mr Russell has been made a Knights Bachelor in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to financial innovation, culture and wellbeing in the City of London particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Russell was born in London in 1965 and studied at Durham University. He is married to Hilary who also went to Durham University but was brought up in Queen Edith’s Way, Cambridge.
The couple moved to Thriplow in 1997 and have four children – Edward, Nicholas, Alistair and Helena.
Mr Russell has more than 30 years’ experience in the financial and business sector, including holding senior positions in national and international banking.
In 1987, he went to work for First Boston Corporation before joining Merrill Lynch in 1992 as an investment banker in institutional equity sales, working in Asia, New York and London.
He has an impressive record of achievement over 20 years through applying his financial knowledge and extensive business networks to deliver important contributions to the development of Fintech and the critical agenda of Green Finance.
Mr Russell was the chair of the Development Board at the Royal Court Theatre and from initial fundraising of £500,000, he left the board after eight years as a vibrant self-sustaining body.
He was also a trustee of Prostate Cancer UK for eight years and chairman for three years until 2016 and is still an ambassador.
Mr Russell has been a board member of Place2Be, delivering mental health services to young people for seven years and is now deputy chairman. He has been a phenomenal champion for fundraising, now running at £8m a year and was co-chair of its 25th Anniversary Appeal in 2019 which raised £1m alone.
His other current charitable achievements interests include the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Royal Theatrical Support Trust, Charterhouse and Morden College.
In November 2019, Mr Russell became the 692nd Lord Mayor of the City of London. To ensure continuity of leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic, he served a second term and remained in office until November 2021.
He is the fifth member of his family to be Lord Mayor in the past 110 years. His grandfather, Sir Ian Bowater, was Lord Mayor from 1969-1970 and his great-grandfather, Sir Frank Bowater, from 1938-1939.
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