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| 27 Jan 2025 | |
| Alumni News |
We were delighted to hear of three OBMs who were honoured on the recent New Year Honours List.
Mark Lay MBE (1979-86) became a Member of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his services to harm reduction and preventing drug related deaths. Mark has dedicated his career to protecting communities and influencing and shaping policies and tactics that tackle the harm caused by drugs. In 2020 he was appointed as the National Drugs Coordinator for the Government and National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC). His role is integral in designing, delivering, and implementing the UK’s National Drugs Strategy. One of Mark’s most impactful contributions has been educating and promoting the use of nasal naloxone among frontline police officers. Thanks to his advocacy, most UK police forces now have naloxone capability, resulting in over 1,200 life-saving administrations at overdose scenes.
Dr Harry Brunjes CBE (1966-73) became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his services to the arts. Harry has been Chair of the English National Opera for a decade, having previously served as a member of the Board. During his remarkable tenure as Chair, Harry played an instrumental role in supporting the organisation through many chapters in its life – seeing the company produce hundreds of operas at the London Coliseum, nationally and internationally, and pioneering the award-winning ENO Breathe programme during the Covid pandemic, in partnership with Imperial College NHS Trust.
Sir Nick Gibb (1970-72) was knighted for his services to education. The long-serving Conservative schools minister served for more than a decade under four prime ministers, championing the academies and free schools programme, and was widely recognised as a central designer of Conservative education policy. As a result of reforms he helped pioneer, more young people are now leaving education with better grades and improved life chances.
On behalf of the school and the OBM Club, we would like to offer our congratulations on these tremendous and well-deserved achievements.
Photograph of Nick Gibb by Richard Townshend - https://members-api.parliament.uk/api/Members/111/Portrait?cropType=ThreeFourGallery: https://members.parliament.uk/member/111/portrait, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86638183
