JACK MORRIS, BUSINESS DESIGN CENTRE CHAIRMAN, AWARDED OBE IN QUEENS BIRTHDAY HONOURS

Jack Morris, Chairman of the Business Design Centre and Chair of Governors at City and Islington College has been awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours – for services to further education.

A leading figure in London’s business circles, Jack Morris joined the College’s governing body in 1992 and has been its Chair for the past 8 years. Throughout that time, City and Islington College has benefited from his acumen and sheer passion for education and learning, and is now ranked amongst the UK’s Top 10 general further education colleges.

In its recent Ofsted inspection, City and Islington became London’s first general further education college to be judged as “outstanding”. Under Morris’ chairmanship, City and Islington College’s education facilities have been transformed by a £60 million building development programme, the most ambitious undertaken in the history of further education in the UK.

Combining the role of Chair of Governors and the chairmanship of a large private company is no simple feat but it is one that Morris has managed with ease and enthusiasm. He joined the City Industrial Limited Group, the Morris family business and Business Design Centre’s parent company, in 1979, and was appointed Group Chairman in 1992, having worked in all of its subsidiaries. The Group has a turnover of £19 million and employs 85 people. It donates a proportion of its profits to the Morris Charitable Trust, which has granted £1 million to local projects in Islington and numerous other charities.

Commenting on the honour, the Business Design Centre’s Chief Executive Dominic Jones said, “I have nothing but admiration for Jack and the way he has managed to juggle all his different roles so successfully. He has always been a great advocate of the need for business to put something back into the community and the way in which the College has grown is testimony to him and his colleagues there. I think this honour is great recognition for all they have achieved.”

Jack Morris is also a past Chairman of the Anne Frank Trust. In 2003 he was awarded the Freedom of the Borough of Islington.