Ruth Boumphrey to succeed Richard Clegg at global safety charity.

Lloyd’s Register Foundation, an independent global charity that aims to engineer a safer world, has announced the appointment of a new CEO to take the charity into its second decade.

Dr Ruth Boumphrey will take over from outgoing CEO Professor Richard Clegg following his retirement on 30th June 2022. Professor Clegg was the charity’s first CEO and led the organisation for ten years.

Dr Boumphrey is currently Director of Research and Strategic Programmes at Lloyd’s Register Foundation, the owner of Lloyd’s Register Group, where she leads its work on some of the biggest global safety challenges – building knowledge and capability to make the world a safer place.

Chairman of Lloyd’s Register Foundation, Thomas Thune Andersen said: “On behalf of the Trustees, Board and all the Lloyd’s Register family, we welcome Ruth in her new role as CEO and very much look forward to working with her and the team to continue to build and expand the Foundation into its second decade.”

“All of us at Lloyd’s Register have had the honour and privilege to work with Richard from the formation of the Foundation 10 years ago. Together with the great team he has built, Richard has been instrumental in not only creating the vision for LRF but also ensuring a formidable execution. This year celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Foundation which is now globally recognised as the world’s leading safety charity. We are all grateful for Richard’s outstanding contribution to achieve this.

Dr Ruth Boumphrey said: “In its first ten years, Richard built a Foundation that embodies the Lloyd’s Register values: to care, to share, and to do the right thing. Through the vision, values and dedication of our colleagues and partners across the globe we have worked together to engineer a safer world.”

“The Foundation’s second decade will see a world that is changing fast. Population growth, climate change, the energy transition, and technological innovation will bring new challenges and opportunities for us, and it will be a privilege and pleasure to lead the Foundation to have even greater impact in making the world a safer place in the future,” she added.

Professor Richard Clegg, CEO of Lloyd’s Register Foundation said: “The world is facing some major global challenges around safety, the environment and sustainability, in which the mission of the Lloyd’s Register Foundation has a pivotal role to play. As I retire, I’m happy and confident that the Foundation’s impact will grow and deepen in the coming years tackling these global challenges under Ruth’s inspirational leadership.”

Nick Brown, CEO of Lloyd’s Register Group said: “The list of social impact programmes which LR Group and LR Foundation have developed has grown tremendously over the last 10 years. This now includes the LR Maritime Decarbonisation Hub whose work includes the Zero Carbon Fuel Monitor and the Safetytech Accelerator who recently partnered with the Container Ship Safety Forum to identify opportunities for technology to solve critical safety, risk and environmental issues with the shipping of containers. Under Ruth’s leadership, I am excited to further grow the positive impact and close collaboration from across the LR family.”

As Director of Research and Strategic Programmes at the Foundation, Dr Boumphrey led major programmes including with the Alan Turing Institute on data-centric engineering; with Arup on ‘the Resilience Shift’, a programme to enhance the resilience of critical lifeline infrastructures; with Gallup on ‘ the World Risk Poll’, a multi-year global survey of public attitudes to risk; and the Lloyd’s Register Safetytech Accelerator, inspiring entrepreneurs to develop digital solutions to safety problems. She is also a leader of Engineering X: a global collaboration bringing together the world’s best problem-solvers to address the great challenges of our age. Her current focus is on supporting safe and sustainable growth in the Ocean Economy.

Dr Boumphrey has a background in research, development and regulation primarily in the Space and Environmental sectors. She was Chair of the Welding Institute, is a trustee of the National Oceanography Centre, a non-executive director of the UK Government’s Centre for Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (CEFAS), is a Commissioner at the National Preparedness Commission, is on the editorial board for the Cambridge University Press journal in Data-centric Engineering, and was previously on the Council at Lancaster University, one of the UK’s top ten universities.