Sir Andrew said of his installation: "I never expected to become Chancellor of the University. I was shocked and honoured two years ago to be given an honorary degree, which was far in excess of anything that I thought would happen to me."
Characteristic modesty from Sir Andrew, who is Chief Executive Officer of GlaxoSmithKline, one of the world's most successful pharmaceutical companies with a global turnover in excess of £26bn. Sir Andrew graduated from The University in 1985 with a BA in Economics. As his Record Card with its stapled photograph that's still held in the school bears out, Sir Andrew was not only a talented scholar, but was someone who made the most of university life. Key roles in the Students' Union, President of Wortley Hall and to cap it all, University Radio Nottingham DJ, indicated he was bound for great things.
Upon graduation, Sir Andrew joined Glaxo, holding a variety of roles in the UK, South Africa, the USA and Singapore before being appointed President of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Europe in 2003. He became CEO of GSK in 2008 and was knighted for services to the economy and to the UK pharmaceutical industry in the 2012 New Year Honours.
He claims that his student life at University during the politically charged 1980s helped fashion his career, and his life. Talking about his installation as Chancellor of the University of Nottingham, Sir Andrew said that it is "a special way of giving something back to an institution, which alongside my parents and my grammar school, is one of the three institutions I would credit with making me who I am."