In Conversation with Rt Hon Rupert Soames

Friends 50th anniversary lecture, Rt Hon Rupert Soames in conversation with Mark Seddon Rupert Soames is a British businessman. Currently, he is Chair of Smith & Nephew, an international medical technology company. He was Chair of the Confederation of British Industry 2024-25, and formerly the Chief Executive of SERCO, a British multinational company - with activities ranging from defence, health, space, justice, migration, customer services and transport - which, at its peak, employed over 100,000 people. Prior to Serco, Rupert was CEO of Aggreko, the international temporary power solutions company. Between Aggreko and Serco, Rupert has served over 20 years as a public company CEO. He has recently also taken on the Lead NED role at the Home Office. Coming from the illustrious Churchill family, he had a traditional establishment upbringing but went on to tackle demanding roles in business. He started by working for the formidable Lord Weinstock at GEC and moved on through Misys and Aggreko. He joined SERCO when it was at a low ebb after mismanagement of Government contracts. He implemented a corporate renewal programme which, over ten years, regained it a clean bill of health for both governance and profitability. Rupert is a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University and a Visiting Professor at Aston University.