Dr Eddie Powell 

After 6 years at Churchill College and finishing his PhD (inorganic chemistry) Eddie trained in London with KPMG to be an accountant. In 1974 Noel Duckworth married him and Ruth in the college chapel. Moving out of the profession in 1978 he had 2 years in Frankfurt followed by 8 years as finance director of a Marconi company subsidiary of Arnold Weinstock’s GEC and then 10 years as group finance director of a light engineering group based in Havant. In 2000 he was fortunate enough to join a very small (6 people) start-up in Cambridge (Abcam), giving him and Ruth the opportunity to return to Cambridge. The 2 entrepreneurs who founded the company were brilliant and Abcam grew rapidly, such that Eddie had the intense experience of leading its floatation on the London AIM stock market. Eddie retired in 2007 and has since been involved in several start-up companies in Cambridge, as well as being involved in the rowing community. In 2011 he established a scholarship at Churchill to give Palestinian graduates the opportunity to study for a Masters degree at Cambridge. He and Ruth consider themselves fortunate to have been able to travel all over the world over the past few years.