Benefactors
Martin Totty (Economics 1978)
Martin Totty (BA Economics, 1978) is Chief Executive of Barbon Insurance Group, a specialist provider of risk solutions to the Residential Lettings sector and owned by The Carlyle Group, the US Private Equity investor. In this capacity he is often quoted in broadcast media.
He was formerly CEO of FirstAssist Insurance Ltd, another private equity owned business, on whose behalf he led the sale of the business in 2011 to Cigna, the US-based global healthcare insurer. Prior to these experiences in the UK financial services sector, Martin spent many years at Pepsico Inc in a variety of commercial and general management positions both in the UK and international markets. On graduating from the University of Nottingham, the early part of his career was spent in consumer goods brand marketing which remains a keen interest.
The school is indebted to Martin for his support which facilitates a wide range of activity, both within the school and beyond. In 2019, the school announced the launch of the Martin Totty PhD Studentship, a new full-time PhD studentship generously gifted by Martin.
For many years Martin supported our public lecture series at which leading academics and economic luminaries address issues of topical interest. This support was key in terms of allowing the school to establish this lecture series and invite stellar speakers to provide our students with a broader perspective beyond the classroom.
Martin also sponsored a range of annual prizes to reward the best academic performance by an undergraduate in first, second and third year, as well as a prize for the best final year dissertation.
To reward and inspire activity beyond the lecture hall, Martin also sponsored an annual Entrepreneurship prize which acted not only as a source of encouragement to budding entrepreneurs in the school, but also as recognition of the great many outstanding contributions that they make, often with have a strong social or charitable dimension, while studying at the University.
We are particularly grateful to Martin for his commitment to awarding these prizes in person at the Prize Giving reception on Graduation Day. Speaking at one such occasion, Martin said:
The University gave me the platform on which to build a career. I've made my gift because at this time of life I can afford to give a little back to a few people so that they might have a similar experience to mine, so that they can take the opportunities this University will give them and build their own success in a world that is much tougher than when I left university.
Philip Watson (Economics 1965)
Philip Watson, an eminent professional statistician for over 40 years, was granted Chartered Statistician status in 1993 having held fellowships the Royal Statistical Society and Institute of Statisticians.
Born in Lincolnshire, some fifty miles up the River Trent from Nottingham, Philip Watson won a County Scholarship to attend the University of Nottingham, where he read Economics and nurtured a keen interest in statistics. As for so many undergraduates, University was a life changing experience.
Author of over 40 papers, Philip Watson worked as a Statistician for internationally renowned companies such as Bassetts confectioners and Pirelli tyres prior to becoming Chief Statistician at the International Rubber Study Group in London and subsequently its Consultant Statistician.
More recently he has advised the Office of National Statistics and the Department of Work and Pensions, devoting much of his semi-retirement to the earnest pursuit of bridge - as Committee Member and Tournament Director. It turns out that his passion for economic statistics and bridge date back to his university days where, as a resident of G Block, Lincoln Hall, Philip honed his skills, cannily sharing a room with fellow economist and international bridge player, Tony Sowter.
Since moving to the Isle of Wight in 2017, Philip has taken an active life there. He is currently Chairman of the local Residents Association, a member of the Patients Participation Group at the West Wight Surgery, and also works in the FYT Charity Shop in Totland, which supports of a local free mini-bus service for the older generation. Also he continues his bridge activities on the Island by teaching bridge in West Wight area and helping at the local Bridge Clubs.
Philip's experience of university exemplified just how much can be attained in just three short years. Not merely a dedicated scholar, Philip engaged in all aspects of university life, as Manager of the Students' Union Stationery Shop, member of NUTS (Nottingham University Tiddlywinks Society, a game, incidentally, at which he claimed to be "reasonably proficient") and University Carnival.
Recalling those student days he wrote, "I felt as if I was putting something back into university life", a commitment that continues to the present day as sponsor of the School of Economics' student magazine Nottingham Economic Review. Philip's generosity contributes significantly to its production costs and is of significant importance to the publication.
Robert Enticott (Economics and Econometrics 1994)
Robert Enticott studied in the School of Economics in the early 1990s, graduating with a BA in Economics and Econometrics. Launched in the 2019/20 academic year, The Robert Enticott Scholarship will fund five students (one per year) with an award of £5,000 each, paid over the duration of their undergraduate course.
Robert's generous gift is part of the Nottingham Potential Scholarships; funded by private donations from University supporters and alumni, these scholarships are designed to encourage and develop the potential of students from lower income backgrounds and/or those who have overcome significant difficulties to come to University.
Richard Owen (Mathematics and Economics)
Richard Owen is the founder and CEO of OCX Cognition, a consulting and data science company using machine learning to create breakthrough customer experience insights.
Richard has enjoyed a 30-year career centered around the use of technology to transform business operations. As an executive at Dell Computer Corporation, he oversaw the re-engineering of the companies supply chain operations, the growth of Dell’s consumer business in Japan and, as VP of Online, the scaling of the world’s largest electronic commerce business of the 1990s.
He has led two software companies to successful exits, with AvantGo (mobile enterprise software) achieving a public listing on the Nasdaq and Satmetrix, the cloud software co-creator of NPS, sold to NICE Systems. Richard has held several board positions in both public and private companies and has served on compensation, audit and special board committees.
He is one of the best-known thought leaders in the Customer Experience industry. While CEO at Satmetrix, his team led the development of the Net Promote Score methodology with Fred Reichheld, which created the most widely used approach to measuring customer experience in the world. Together with Dr Laura Brooks he co-authored "Answering the ultimate question" which quickly became the "how to" guide for NPS practitioners.
Richard launched netpromoter.com which was supported by over 20,000 subscribers; the NPS Certification program with over 6,000 companies taking part and a conference series that ran for 10 years and 20 conferences.
An active venture investor, he most recently joined the board of Ajua, an innovative pioneer in customer data based in Nairobi, Kenya. Having lived in Japan, the UK and the USA, he is a true international business thinker and Africa is a new and exciting passion for him.
Richard holds an undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Nottingham, England, and an MBA From the MIT Sloan School of Management. He lives with his wife Susan and son Alex in Scottsdale, Arizona and in London, England.
Paul Walker (PhD Economics)
The School of Economics would like to thank Paul Walker for generously sponsoring a PhD scholarship.