Excellence Hall of Fame

Andrew is one of the world’s foremost experts on governance, boardroom effectiveness, top teams and government. He has been listed in the world’s Top 50 business thinkers on two occasions, in 2011 and 2013.

Born in Athens, in 1948, Andrew grew up in Manchester where he attended the University of Salford and qualified with a Bachelor’s degree in environmental science in 1970. On graduation, he enrolled in Manchester Medical School – now part of the University of Manchester – and earned a Diploma in Psychiatric Social Work before moving to London to study for his Master’s in Public Administration at Brunel University.

In parallel to his studies, he worked for Derbyshire county council in 1970 and 1971 and for the Borough of Kensington and Chelsea from 1971 until 1973. Following his Masters, Andrew returned to Manchester to do his doctorate in the University of Manchester, graduating in 1977.

Armed with his doctorate, Andrew joined the engineering and consulting firm WS Atkins, in 1977. A year later, he returned to academia, joining the faculty at Cranfield University’s School of Management where he taught leadership, change management, consulting skills and organizational behavior. His research focused on management in the public sector from which he developed an interest in management development, decision-making, and executive performance. In 1982, he was appointed Professor of International Management at Cranfield University, one of the youngest Business School professors of the day, a position he held until 2012 when he became Professor Emeritus at Cranfield prior to joining the University of Reading, Henley Business School as Professor of Governance & Leadership.

In 1979, he married Patricia Sweetman who sadly passed away in 1991. Four years later, Andrew married Nada, who is an outstanding scholar in her own right. They have since collaborated academically many times. They also run their own consultancy practice, which counts amongst its client’s public sector organizations such as the Australian Federal Government, Scottish Government and the Police Service of Northern Ireland and private sector clients such as Credit Suisse, Citi, British Airways, BMW Motors, and the Bank of Ireland. Andrew has one daughter and one son.

Andrew’s current areas of interest revolve around improving the performance of boards, executive teams and senior executives as well as on excellence in leadership, corporate governance, conflict resolution, international relations, consultancy practice and enhancing policy delivery through enabling agile government. He has consulted and lectured on these themes in Australia, China, Georgia, India, Japan, the Middle East, South East Asia, Russia, the USA, and throughout Europe.

Andrew’s research has resulted in the creation of a database that covers thousands of senior leaders from public and private sector organizations in 43 countries. His research over 20 years on boardroom effectiveness and governance practice gave rise in 2018 to the largest ever analysis of the functioning of the British Government and a similar investigation of governance practice in the sports, charities, universities and health sectors. Building on this research, Henley Business School launched the world’s first Master’s program on Boardroom Practice and Directorship in 2019.

Outside of academia, Andrew has served on a number of boards including, the Supervisory Board, Academy of Business in Society (ABIS) 2007-2012 and on the Windsor Leadership Trust Board, 2014-2018. He has made numerous TV appearances.

He has published over 285 articles, 139 conference papers and authored or co-authored 46 books, including Politics of Management (1983), Working in Organisations (1988), Wealth Creators (1991), The Success Formula, How Smart Leaders Deliver Outstanding Value (2015), Leadership Intelligence: The 5Qs for Thriving as a Leader (2019), and, with Nada, Rice Wine with the Minister (2010).

He has served as European Vice-Chancellor of the International Academy of Management (1997-2002) and as Chair of the British Psychological Society’s Division of Occupational Psychology (2001 – 2002).

Andrew served as editor/co-editor of the Journal of Management Development and Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society from 1998 to 2008 and on the editorial board of the Journal of Managerial Psychology (1996-2012) and the Leadership and Organisation Development Journal (1984-present day).

In 2011, he was acknowledged as one of the world’s top 50 thinkers on management by Thinkers 50. The following year, HR Magazine named him in its Top 25 Most Influential UK Thinker’s list. In 2013, he was once again recognized as one of the world’s top 50 business thinkers and in 2015 he was inducted into the Thinkers 50 Hall of Fame.

Andrew has been a Visiting Professor at Hangzhou University in China (1991 to 1997); the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland (2010 to 2016); Macquarie Graduate School of Management (2010 to 2014), Australian National University (1998 to 1999); and Swinburne University of Technology (2008 to 2012) in Australia; Thunderbird School of Global Management in the United States (2005 to 2008); the University Panthéon Assas (2007 to 2012) and the Sorbonne (2007 to 2012) in France; and Visiting Research Professor, Royal Institution London (2011 to 2017).

He was made an Honorary Professor of the College of Social Sciences of Kazakhstan (2011) and has been a Visiting International Fellow at the Centre for Creative Leadership in North Carolina (2005 to 2006), at Babson College in Boston (1999 to 2002) and an Honorary Professorial Fellow at the Curtin University of Technology in Perth (1994-1997).

In 2019, he was elected to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. He is a Fellow of the International Academy of Management; Fellow of the British Psychology Society; Fellow of the British Academy of Management; and Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute.