Rolls-Royce

Henry Royce, co-founder of Rolls-Royce Ltd, manufacturer of quality automobiles and aeroplane engines, was born March 27th 1863, in Alwalton, Rutland, England. After an apprenticeship with the Great Northern Railway Company and a spell in various jobs, he started his own busines, which developed into Royce Ltd, manufacturers of electrically driven cranes, dynamoes and motors. Noted for their high quality, the Royce products sold well and his company grew. He built several experimental cars to his own design, which came to the attention of a motor dealer called C.S.Rolls, who agreed to to buy whatever Royce could produce and the companies merged in 1906 as Rolls Royce Ltd. In 1907 they produced the Silver Ghost, which became known as the greatest car in the world and production of it continued for 20 years at Nightingale Road, Derby where motor engines were produced up until 1939.

Graham Nicholson qualified with Freshfields in September 1971 and became a partner in 1980 while working in the firm's New York office. He helped establish the firm's first Asian office in Singapore later that year and, following his return to London, became departmental managing partner of the company department in 1986 (which later divided to become the corporate and finance departments). Graham was also managing partner of the firm between 1990 and 1993, before returning to full time practice. Graham's work has spanned a wide range of the firm's clients over the years. Most recently he has been well known for his work with a range of financial institutions clients, such as the London Stock Exchange on its listing, offers and proposed offers in recent years; Zurich Financial Services on a wide range of transactions, and Lloyd's and Equitas on the reconstruction of the Lloyd's insurance market in 1996 and the subsequent progress of Equitas. He is also relationship partner for Rolls Royce. Graham read law at Trinity Hall, Cambridge and attended the Advanced Manager Program at Harvard Business School in 1990.

Karin Ricketts has a wealth of experience in media relations, marketing communications and web development with leading Fortune 500 companies. In her current role, she is the communications manager for Rolls-Royce responsible for the media relations and communications strategy for the company's defense business in North America, including Rolls-Royce North America Technologies Inc. - LibertyWorks . Prior to joining Rolls-Royce, Karin worked at Indianapolis pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company in roles including corporate communications, internal communications, e-communications and web development. Karin has been a member of IABC for more than 12 years and is a member of the Indianapolis chapter. She is currently serving as the communications director and secretary for the IABC Heritage Region board, which has the largest number of members of any region, serving 17 U.S. states. Karin is also very civic-minded and has deep roots in her local community. Her community involvement includes serving as a board member for the YMCA Pioneering Healthy Communities (PHC) initiative for the City of Lawrence, Ind, an initiative of Activate America that focuses on policy and environmental change in communities to promote healthy lifestyle. She is also very active with the Boy Scouts of America and currently serves as the Northeast District Commissioner for the Crossroads of America Council, Indianapolis. Karin has a Bachelor's degree in Journalism from Indianapolis University and is a board member of the I.U. School of Journalism at IUPUI Alumni Council (JAC). Karin is married to Paul, the Mayor of the Lawrence, and has four daughters, two sons and one grandchild, with the second due in June 2009.

An inspirational leader, Geoffrey Wilde joined Rolls-Royce in 1938, after an apprenticeship with the Daimler Company. He gained an HNC with honours in Mechanical Engineering at Coventry Technical College, then studied thermodynamics, mathematics, electrical engineering and physics.

Michael Mann, his wife Catherine and children Juliet and Rosemary have belonged to St Thomas' for about 10 years. Having been a sidesman for a number of years, he is now taking on this additional responsibility. He has a PhD and works as a thermal engineer with Rolls Royce in Derby.

Samuel L. Higginbottom is a retired executive officer of Rolls Royce, Inc. (an aircraft engine manufacturer), where he served as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer from 1974 to 1986. He was the Chairman of the Columbia University Board of Trustees from 1982 until September 1989. He was President, Chief Operating Officer and a director of Eastern Airlines, Inc., from 1970 to 1973 and served in various other executive capacities with that company from 1964 to 1969. Mr. Higginbottom was a director of British Aerospace Holdings, Inc., an aircraft manufacturer, from 1986 to 1999 and was a director of AmeriFirst Bank from 1986 to 1991. He is a Trustee Emeritus of St. Thomas University, Miami, Florida. Mr. Higginbottom is considered an "independent" Director under New York Stock Exchange rules.