Honorary degree awarded to PwC Chairman

Ian Powell, who is a graduate of the University, received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Business Administration in recognition of his outstanding contribution to and eminence in the accountancy profession.

The honour was presented at a University of Wolverhampton Business School graduation ceremony on Thursday, September 9 2010 at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre.

Mr Powell said: “I'm delighted to be recognised in this way. I had a great time in Wolverhampton and the learning I benefitted from there provided a foundation for my career. The University has developed over the years but the principle has stayed the same - to produce well rounded graduates with strong employment prospects."

Ian Powell was born in Sedgley and holds a BA (Hons) degree in Economics from the University of Wolverhampton. He completed the Advanced Management Programme at Insead Business School in Fountainbleau, in France.

Ian is the Chairman and Senior Partner of the UK firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. He joined the firm in Birmingham as a graduate in 1977 and is a qualified Chartered Accountant (ICAEW). Ian worked in Assurance in the early part of his career before specialising in the troubled business arena, and has a very broad range of experience on a wide variety of clients.

Ian is a member of the five-man Network Leadership team which leads the international network of PwC firms. He leads the Central Cluster of the PwC Network, which covers Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India and Pakistan. The Central Cluster spans 97 countries and accounts for half of PwC’s worldwide revenues.

PwC is the world’s leading professional services firm with more than 8500 partners and 163,000 staff operating in over 150 countries around the world.

In the UK the firm has more than 850 partners and employs over 15,000 staff, also recruiting more than 1,000 new graduates for the three year professional training programme. For the past seven years PwC has been voted a Times Top 100 Graduate Employer.

ENDS

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