![AdamParr2011](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/AdamParr2011.jpg)
Adam Parr (born 26 May 1965) is a British businessman known for his work in various fields including
Formula 1
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
and investment to
NGOs
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
. He is the former CEO and chairman of Williams Grand Prix Holdings PLC, from November 2006 until 30 March 2012. Parr began his career working for
BZW and moved to
Rio Tinto Rio Tinto, meaning "red river", may refer to:
Businesses
* Rio Tinto (corporation), an Anglo-Australian multinational mining and resources corporation
** Rio Tinto Alcan, based in Canada
** Rio Tinto Borax in America
*** Rio Tinto Borax Mine, a ...
before studying and practising public law. He later returned to Rio Tinto as assistant to the Chief Executive and chairman before being appointed CEO of
Williams F1
Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, currently racing in Formula One as Williams Racing, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded by former team owner Frank Williams and automotive engineer Patrick Head ...
in 2006. Since leaving Williams in 2012, Parr has completed a PhD in eighteenth-century history and literature at University College London; and been involved in business and not-for-profit activities. He is a director of Cosworth Limited and the River Learning Trust.
Early life and education
Parr was born in London as Adam Stephen de Voghelaere Parr in 1965. He attended
Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...
, graduating in 1987.
Career history
Parr began his career with the investment bank Barclays de Zoete Wedd. Having spent some time in Japan before university, his interest in the country led him to Japanese equities and trading. He was relocated to Japan as an equities analyst focusing on heavy industrial sectors such as iron and steel. In Japan he became acquainted with Anglo-Australian mining group
Rio Tinto Rio Tinto, meaning "red river", may refer to:
Businesses
* Rio Tinto (corporation), an Anglo-Australian multinational mining and resources corporation
** Rio Tinto Alcan, based in Canada
** Rio Tinto Borax in America
*** Rio Tinto Borax Mine, a ...
and, on his return to the UK, was seconded to Rio Tinto by BZW to help with mergers and acquisitions. He then joined Rio Tinto full-time, firstly as personal assistant to the head of exploration and then as assistant to the general manager of the
Palabora
Palabora Mining Company Limited (founded August 1956) is a publicly traded mining company headquartered in Phalaborwa, Limpopo province, South Africa. The company operates a single cluster of open-pit and underground mines producing mainly copp ...
copper mine in South Africa.
Parr took an extended sabbatical to study Law. At the Bar, he practised in the areas of public law, appearing in cases up to the Court of Appeal. He successfully represented the former chief executive of Westminster City Council, in his appeal against a £30 million fine in the
Dame Shirley Porter
Shirley, Lady Porter (''née'' Cohen; born 29 November 1930), styled between 1991 and 2003 as Dame Shirley Porter, is a British politician who led Westminster City Council in London, representing the Conservative Party. She is the daughter and ...
"gerrymandering" case.
Rio Tinto
In 1998 Parr returned to Rio Tinto as assistant to the chairman and chief executive. His main focus was to improve industrial safety in Rio Tinto's operations. Following a global study, he helped establish a safety programme for the Group's 30,000 staff.
Over the following years injuries fell significantly. Parr then took up a series of increasingly senior executive posts during six years in Australia, firstly managing Rio Tinto's extensive port and infrastructure in the remote
Pilbara
The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a glo ...
region, then running its Western Australian salt operations. Finally, he served as president and chief commercial officer of Rio Tinto Minerals, a group with operations in Europe, the Americas, Australia and Asia. Parr first met
Frank Williams in 2000.
Williams F1
In November 2006 Parr was appointed chief executive officer of Williams F1, replacing departing CEO Chris Chapple.
Parr was chairman of Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited from July 2010 to March 2012, responsible for the day-to-day running of the team, whilst Frank Williams remained Team Principal and majority shareholder of the company. Parr was known during his tenure for his green innovation – bringing hybrid technology to the fore of Williams.
Cosworth
In January 2014, he was appointed to the Board of
Cosworth
Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream automotive industrie ...
, a high performance engineering firm based in
Northampton
Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...
.
Graphic memoir
Parr has released a graphic memoir, entitled ''
The Art of War: Five Years in Formula One'', detailing his time as CEO of Williams F1.
Sported
Parr was named chief executive of
Sported in April 2013. The foundation was set up in 2008 by
Sir Keith Mills, donating £10 million to inspire disadvantaged young people. Following the
London 2012
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
Summer Olympics, Sported became "the UK's leading sports foundation dedicated to securing the legacy of London 2012" He stood down as chief executive of Sported at the end of 2013 but remains a member of the fundraising committee.
The Walk Free Foundation
Adam Parr also briefly worked with the
Walk Free Foundation
Minderoo Foundation's Walk Free initiative is an independent, privately funded international human rights organisation based in Perth, Western Australia. Walk Free works towards ending modern slavery in all its forms by taking a multifaceted and g ...
, which aims to eliminate modern slavery by 2020.
Oxford Semantic Technologies
Parr founded the tech startup Oxford Semantic Technologies in 2017 alongside Professors
Ian Horrocks
Ian Robert Horrocks One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: is a professor of computer science at the University of Oxford in the UK and a Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. His research ...
, Bernardo Cuenca Grau, and Boris Motik of the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
. Having seen the growing commercial need for fast, deeply interconnected data, Parr was the driving force that brought RDFox, a
graph database
A graph database (GDB) is a database that uses graph structures for semantic queries with nodes, edges, and properties to represent and store data. A key concept of the system is the ''graph'' (or ''edge'' or ''relationship''). The graph relat ...
, out of academia and into the market. Due to its unique backing and continued research and development, RDFox is the most performant
knowledge graph
The Google Knowledge Graph is a knowledge base from which Google serves relevant information in an infobox beside its search results. This allows the user to see the answer in a glance. The data is generated automatically from a variety of so ...
and
semantic reasoner in the world. Horrocks et al. invented revolutionary techniques that conduct rapid and absolute reasoning across an RDF database for which Horrocks was awarded the
Lovelace Medal
The Lovelace Medal was established by the British Computer Society in 1998, and is presented to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the understanding or advancement of computing. It is the top award in computing in the UK. Award ...
in 2021.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parr, Adam
Living people
1965 births
Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge
British expatriates in Australia
British expatriates in Japan
British investment bankers
Businesspeople from London
People educated at Eton College