Robin Budenberg and Paula Hay-Plumb recognised in King's Birthday Honours

Robin Budenberg and Paula Hay-Plumb recognised in King's Birthday Honours

The King's Birthday Honours list recognises people who have made a significant contribution to public life through vital and extraordinary work. We are delighted to share the fantastic news that our Chair, Robin Budenberg, has been awarded a knighthood, and Paula Hay-Plumb, who has served on our Board since 2015, has been awarded an OBE.

A huge congratulations to Robin and Paula on these amazing achievements that recognise their significant contributions to public life.

Since joining as Chair in 2016, Robin has helped steer The Crown Estate towards success through exceptionally challenging times. He's overseen continued growth through business uncertainty, shifting retail patterns, energy transitions and the historic challenges posed by Covid-19. He is also currently Chair of Lloyds Banking Group, and since being awarded a CBE in 2015, he has also served as an unpaid Non-Executive Director of Big Society Trust and Charity Bank. Earlier in his career, as a senior figure at UBS, he made a major contribution to public service, first as one of the main private sector advisers to the Government during the 2008-09 financial crisis and then as CEO then Chair of UK Financial Investments. His role there was critical in stabilising RBS and Lloyds, enabling the Government to start selling its large shareholding.

Paula has held many board and audit committee roles across both the private and public sectors, through which she has dedicated significant time and expertise to improving financial standards. We are proud that Paula has received her OBE in recognition of her contribution here at The Crown Estate. During her eight years of service, Paula has led our drive towards higher standards of governance and transparency, and played an important role in supporting the business to understand our unique potential and deliver value for the nation. Her work in chairing our Audit Committee, and overseeing the further integration of sustainability reporting into our practice, culminated in our being awarded the Building Public Trust Award from PwC for our Annual Report and Accounts. She's also overseen a number of critical work areas, including our response to Covid-19, development of our ambitious ten-year strategy, and work that helped ensure a further pipeline of 8GW of renewable energy is brought forward in a sustainable way within the marine environment.

Dan Labbad, CEO at The Crown Estate, said:
"We are incredibly fortunate to have the Chair and board members that we do here at The Crown Estate. Their leadership and stewardship is invaluable to us as an organisation, and a crucial part of our ongoing relevance and success."

Congratulations too to those in our team at Windsor Great Park whose years of dedicated service towards the care of the Estate was recognised in this year's honours. Peter Clayton, Head Gamekeeper, wardens Nick Matthews and Gordon Robinson, and carpenter Rob McGee were all awarded the Silver Bar to the Royal Victorian Medal.The four members of the Windsor team have a combined length of service of over 170 years.