Sir Peter Rigby DL (born 29 September 1943) is a British

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

. He is

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

and

chief executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Rigby Group PLC, and is one of Britain's richest people.

Early life

Rigby was born in 1943 in Liverpool and went to a local grammar school. He learned to fly at 15 and wanted a career in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

but the health of his father meant he instead took a graduate position with

National Cash Register Company NCR Voyix Corporation, previously known as NCR Corporation and National Cash Register, is a global software, consulting and technology company providing several professional services and electronic products. It manufactured self-service kios ...

in their electronic processing division. There he learned to program and design computer systems.

Career

Specialist Computer Centres

Peter Rigby founded

SCC (Specialist Computer Centres) The Rigby Group is the parent company of several privately owned businesses operating across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The Rigby Group, incorporated in 1997, began its business activities in 1975. The net assets of The Rigby ...

in 1975 with an initial cash investment of just £2,000.Brum deal with stars of business/Rich pickings from hi-tech (The Times) 10/6/0

Rigby has maintained control of the company over 40 years of sustained growth SCH strengthens European leadership with another year of growth . and has seen SCC's Revenue, turnover rise to £2.038 billion (2005).Fast Track 2006 Top Track 100 league table, published 2 July 2006 in The Sunday Times

. In May 2012, a company press release claimed that turnover to year end March 2012, had risen to £2.75billion, a 10% rise on the previous yearly period. Peter Rigby claims that if SCC were a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

, turnover would be as much as £14 billion. SCC is now the largest privately owned technology company in Europe. His sons,

James Rigby James Rigby is Chief Executive of SCC, Rigby Group's IT services business. Rigby joined SCC in 1997 in the Engineering Services division, and was appointed to run the Technology Sourcing division in 1995. Subsequently, he was made General Mana ...

(SCC CEO) and Steven Rigby (European GM) are both directors on the board of Rigby Group, while Peter Rigby is chairman and group CEO.

Other activities

In April 2010 Rigby's Patriot Aviation Group bought

Coventry Airport Coventry Airport is located south-southeast of Coventry city centre, in the village of Baginton, Warwickshire, England. The airport is operated and licensed by Coventry Airport Limited. Its CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P902) allows flights ...

,Sir Peter Rigby agrees deal to save Coventry Airpor

with a view to moving from freight-only to serving business passengers and helicopters. In June 2013 it bought

Exeter International Airport Exeter Airport , formerly ''Exeter International Airport'', is an international airport located at Clyst Honiton in East Devon, close to the city of Exeter and within the county of Devon, South West England. Exeter has a CAA Public Use Aero ...

. In June 2014 it bought

Norwich International Airport Norwich Airport is an international airport in Norfolk, England, north of the city of Norwich. In 2023, Norwich Airport was the 25th Busiest airports in the United Kingdom by total passenger traffic, busiest airport in the UK and busiest in ...

, and in December 2017,

Bournemouth Airport Bournemouth Airport (previously known as Hurn Airport and Bournemouth International Airport) is an international airport located north-northeast of Bournemouth, England. The site opened as RAF Hurn in 1941, but was transferred to civil con ...

. Rigby also owns the luxury hotel group Eden Hotel Collection, of which Mallory Court in Leamington was named "Most Excellent Hotel in the United Kingdom and Ireland" for 2009 by magazine

Condé Nast Condé Nast () is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Nast (businessman), Condé Montrose Nast (1873–1942) and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the FiDi, Financial Dis ...

Johansens.Theatrical hotel plan nears completion 24/2/10 .

Wealth

In 2010, the

Sunday Times Rich List The ''Sunday Times Rich List'' is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the United Kingdom ranked by net wealth. The list is updated annually in April and has been published as a magazine supplement by British national ...

estimates Rigby to be worth £430m, based on his corporate investments.Sunday Times Rich List 2010

This ranked him as the 158th richest person in Britain. Although his net worth has increased through the acquisition of European IT companies, his position on the rich list has slipped from a peak of 61st in 2003. The ''

Birmingham Post The ''Birmingham Post'' is a weekly printed newspaper based in Birmingham, England, with distribution throughout the West Midlands. First published under the name the ''Birmingham Daily Post'' in 1857, it has had a succession of distinguished ...

'' also publishes a rich list of residents of the West Midlands; Rigby was at number 11 in 2017 with an estimated net worth of £850 million. In 2024 he donated £50,000 to the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...

Honours

In 2000 Rigby was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of the West Midlands. He was

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

ed in the

2002 Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in sup ...

"for services to information technology and to business in the West Midlands". 2021 : Knight of the

Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

in France.

Notes

External links

SCC Group HomepageQ&A with Sir Peter Rigby
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rigby, Sir Peter Businesspeople in information technology Businesspeople awarded knighthoods English businesspeople Knights Bachelor 1943 births Living people British chief executives British chairpersons of corporations Deputy lieutenants of the West Midlands (county) Conservative Party (UK) donors