[1] He has been a director or chairman of numerous other public companies including Airbus, Anglo American plc, Babcock International, British Gas, DP World, Lattice Group, National Grid plc and Ombu Group.

He is a past president of the Royal Academy of Engineering,[2] patron at the Centre for Process Innovation and a Visiting Fellow of the University of Oxford.

At Queen's University Belfast he was awarded an Honorary DSc degree in Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture.

[16] Other appointments have included membership of the Prime Minister's Business Council for Britain[19] and non-executive director at the Bank of England.

In 2012, he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE), for services to Industry and to the voluntary sector.