Graeme Odgers and his younger brother, Ian, were born and brought up in South Africa in a mining family. They both settled in England after reading for engineering degrees at Cambridge University. They later attended business school, Graeme at Harvard and Ian at Cranfield.
Graeme’s early career included periods with the World Bank in Washington, consultancy in the UK and finance/insurance in the City of London. In 1970 he set up an executive recruitment company, Odgers and Co, which soon afterwards was taken over by brother Ian. Graeme then moved to the Public Sector, directing the government’s Industrial Development Unit which helped to deal with the industrial crisis that threatened to overwhelm the UK economy in the mid 1970’s. He then returned to the private sector doing a number of high profile jobs in the construction and telecommunications industries. In 1993 he was appointed Chair of the Monopolies and Merger’s Commission. He was knighted in 1997.
Graeme’s career then moved onto a pro bono basis, working with the County of Kent. He chaired the County’s inward investment arm, Locate in Kent, and later the Kent Economic Board. He took a major interest in the development of the Arts sector, in particular, the Marlowe Theatre and the Turner Contemporary. He received honorary degrees from the two Kent Universities and the Freedom of the City of Canterbury.
Ian’s early career was in the aircraft and abrasives industries before taking over Odgers and Co which he ran for 26 years before selling to a management buy-in. He remained for a further 19 years as a partner of Odgers Berndtson, today one the world’s leading executive search firms. His portfolio career has included a number of roles as Chair, Board Member or Governor within a wide range of organisations in business, enterprise, the public sector, education, and music and the arts, much of it centred in Kent.
Both Graeme and Ian regard the new Medical School as one of the most important developments in Kent in recent years.