Robin Southwell

Robin Southwell, OBE, is a British businessman. He is the UK head of the aerospace company EADS (now Airbus). He was born on (1960-04-10) 10 April 1960 (age 65), the son of Peter and Susan Southwell, and lives in Cobham, Surrey. He was educated at Finchley Manor Hill Comprehensive school in Barnet, and went on to read economics and history at the University of Hull.^[1]

Robin Southwell OBE
Born	(1960-04-10) 10 April 1960 (age 65)
Nationality	British
Alma mater	University of Hull
Occupation	CEO of EADS UK (now Airbus)
Spouse	Sally Deakin
Parents	Peter Southwell (father) Susan Southwell (mother)

Career

Southwell worked for British Aerospace (now BAE Systems) from 1981 to 2000. From 2001 to 2002, he was CEO of W S Atkins. He joined EADS in January 2003, initially as CEO of Airtanker Ltd. In July 2005, he was appointed CEO of EADS UK.^[2]

Other appointments

Other appointments include:^[2]

• Chairman of Quest Aviation Services, Concord Ltd, and Airbase Group Ltd
• President of ADS
• Trustee of the Royal Air Force Museum
• Non-executive director of Farnborough International Ltd
• Governor of Parkside School
• UK Business Ambassador (appointed by Prime Minister David Cameron)
• Chairman of AERALIS Ltd

Personal life

In 1988, he married Sally Deakin and they have one son and one daughter.^[1]

Controversy

On 10 May 2014, The Independent newspaper published a report detailing the circumstances surrounding the demise of the company Corporate Jet Services. This company collapsed in 2007, owing its main creditor, HBOS, about £100m. Robin Southwell said via his lawyers that he "was appointed by HBOS to assist a company in difficulty and was only ever a non-executive director that acted on the bank's instructions".^[3]