Wolfson members receive King's Birthday Honours

We are delighted that alumni Serena Kennedy DBE (2014, Applied Criminology & Police Management), Professor Ronjon Nag (1984, PhD Engineering), Amanda Pearson KPM (2010, Applied Criminology & Police Management), and Dr David Rees CBE (1979, PhD Chemistry), and Honorary Fellows Kirsten Rausing CBE and Sir Alastair King, were all honoured in the list announced in June.

Serena Kennedy DBE came to Wolfson in 2014 to study for an MSt in Leadership and Policing, graduating in 2017. She began her career in 1993 with Greater Manchester Police after gaining a degree in Applied Biology at the University of Hull. In 2017 she joined Merseyside Police as Assistant Chief Constable, and in 2021 became the first female Chief Constable to lead Merseyside Police. Dame Serena now works in consulting upon her retirement from the police service in 2025. She is also a Community Ambassador for Everton FC and acts in an advisory capacity to Liverpool FC. Her Damehood follows her being awarded a King's Police Medal in the first King's Birthday Honours list in 2023.

Ronjon Nag OBE completed an Engineering PhD at Wolfson in 1988, after his previous studies at the University of Birmingham and MIT. After Cambridge Ronjon undertook post-doctoral work at MIT and Stanford University. In 2014 he became a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology at Stanford and a Distinguished Careers Institute Fellow in 2016. In 1992, he co-founded Lexicus, which focused on speech and predictive technology, and was acquired by Motorola in 1993. He has since pioneered other successful ventures, selling to BlackBerry and Apple. Ronjon is President of the R42 Instutite, a venture capital investment firm funding AI, biotech and fintech projects. He is also Chairman of Bounce Imaging, which develops 360-degree tactical cameras, and won the $1m Verizon Powerful Answers Prize in 2015.

Amanda Pearson KPM studied for a Master of Studies in Applied Criminology and Police Management at Wolfson from 2010-2012. She has worked across a number of forces throughout her career including Hampshire Constabulary, the City of London Police and Thames Valley Police. Amanda took over as Chief Constable for Dorset Police in 2023 and was previously the lead for the Police Plan of Action on Inclusion and Race for the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

David Rees CBE studied for a PhD in Chemistry at Wolfson after receiving a BSc from the University of Southampton. He joined Cambridge-based Astex Pharmaceuticals in 2003 and became its Chief Scientific Officer in 2017. He has been involved in the discovery of three major drugs, including anaesthetic reversal agent sugammadex which has been used in 60 countries and had global sales of over $1.2 billion. He retired from Astex in 2025. David is a Fellow of the Royal Society, as well as Royal Society of Chemistry. He is also a Director of Ashanti Development, a charity that promotes clean water initiatives in Ghana.

Sir Alastair King is a British financier and asset manager. He is chairman of Naisbitt King Asset Management Ltd, and served as the 696th Lord Mayor of London from 2024-2025. He qualified as solicitor in 1995 and practiced with Baker McKenzie in the City and in Asia. He was made CEO of Eredene Capital in 2005 and subsequently founded his own company in 2016. Sir Alastair has a close connection to Wolfson, being the son of Jack King MBE who served Wolfson as Secretary of the Trustees (1968-77), Bursar (1968-79), Vice-President (1984-88), and Director of the Wolfson Course and Programme (1979-95). He was also elected an Honorary Fellow in 1995 and served the wider University as Senior Proctor from 1991-1992.

Kirsten Rausing CBE is founder of the Alborada Trust, a charity that funds research on medical and veterinary causes, animal welfare, and disaster relief. The Alborada Trust provides scholarships to support Wolfson students in Veterinary Sciences or Medicine, and the Alborada Building on the College grounds is named in recognition of the Trust's exceptional and continued support for Wolfson. Kirsten is a businesswoman, and sits on the board of multinational corporation Tetra Laval which was founded by her grandfather in 1951. Kirsten also has an interest in horseracing. She is a former director of The National Stud, a member of the Jockey Club, and a current director of the British Bloodstock Agency.