Congratulations to Ian Metcalfe (OE 1976) who was appointed an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2023 New Year’s Honours list, for his services to Sport.
Ian’s contributions to sport include more than 20 years on the Committee at Warwickshire County Cricket Club and 14 years as the University of Cambridge’s representative at the Rugby Football Union (RFU). The latter included nine years on the RFU Board, and a position on the Board of ER 2015, the organising committee for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, hosted in England. Most recently he served as chair of Commonwealth Games England, as a director on both the Organising Committee Board and the Strategic Board of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and as Birmingham’s representative on the Commonwealth Games Federation Executive Board.
As Chair of Commonwealth Games England, Ian oversaw the Gold Coast 2018 and Birmingham 2022 Games cycles, and when Durban withdrew as 2022 host, he was central to the bidding process which saw England selected as a host nation, and Birmingham as the host city. The Birmingham Games were widely regarded as the most successful Games ever, and Team England secured their best medal return in the ninety-two-year history of the Games.
Having gone on from KES to Cambridge, Ian came home to Birmingham to qualify as a solicitor, and play rugby for Moseley! Whilst at school, under the tutelage of Derek Everest, Ian played full back for the XV, and played for the England U19 XV in their 1977 Grand Slam season. Ian went on to win two Blues at Cambridge, before going on to play for England U23s, England B and touring New Zealand with England in 1985. He played over 200 times for Moseley, seven seasons for the North Midlands County XV, as well as turning out four times for international invitation side, the Barbarians.
Ian is a solicitor who retired from international law firm Wragge & Co in 2014, where he had been in post as managing partner for eight years and a corporate partner for 14 years before then. He joined Mercia Asset Management PLC in 2014 as a non-executive director and has served as non-executive Chair since 2019. He has recently stepped down as a non-executive director of the global waste management group TRRG Holdings Ltd and as a non-executive director of the AIM listed Arena Events Group plc.
Ian still lives in Edgbaston and has been heavily involved with life at KES over the years, including a role as Governor since 2014. We are delighted that Ian has recently taken on a voluntary role as Chair of our KE2052 Masterplan Steering Group.
You can view a video interview that Ian recorded for KES ahead of Birmingham 2022 here.
