Stephen Ridgway,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(born 29 September 1951) is a British business executive best known for having been the CEO of

Virgin Atlantic Virgin Atlantic, a trading name of Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited and Virgin Atlantic International Limited, is a British airline with its head office in Crawley, England. The airline was established in 1984 as British Atlantic Airways, and ...

Early life

Ridgway was born in

Tavistock, Devon Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of 13 ...

, and grew up on a farm in Bantham near

Salcombe Salcombe is a popular resort town in the South Hams district of Devon, south west England. The town is close to the mouth of the Kingsbridge Estuary, mostly built on the steep west side of the estuary. It lies within the South Devon Area o ...

. He went to school in

Kingsbridge Kingsbridge is a market town and tourist hub in the South Hams district of Devon, England, with a population of 6,116 at the 2011 census. Two electoral wards bear the name of ''Kingsbridge'' (East & North). Their combined population at the ab ...

, south Devon. He gained an Economics

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

degree (awarded by the University of London) from

Oxford Polytechnic Polytechnic is most commonly used to refer to schools, colleges, or universities that qualify as an institute of technology or vocational university also sometimes called universities of applied sciences. Polytechnic may also refer to: Educatio ...

. He later gained a PGCE in 1976.

Career

Ridgway worked for

Cavenham Foods Cavenham Foods was one of the United Kingdom's largest food processing businesses. History The company was founded by Sir James Goldsmith in 1965 when he bought up a series of bakeries. In 1971 Cavenham acquired the Bovril Company but then sold ...

as a sales manager, and briefly became a teacher. He moved to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

and began his business career working for a builder of power boats, Ted Toleman. He worked for two years as Business Development Manager at the Toleman Group. One of these boats was the '' Virgin Atlantic Challenger'', and he became the Chief Pilot. From 1981–1985 he worked for Cougar Marine, who built the Virgin boats.

Virgin Atlantic

Ridgway joined

in 1989. In 1990, he became managing director of Virgin Freeway. He became a board director in 1994. Formerly Virgin Atlantic's vice-president of customer services, he was appointed as

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Virgin Atlantic in April 1998. He became Chief Executive in October 2001. He announced his retirement as CEO of Virgin Atlantic on 10 September 2012, and left the company on 1 February 2013. He has built the £13.5m St Moritz Hotel in

Trebetherick Trebetherick ( kw, Trebedrek) is a village on the north coast of Cornwall. It is situated on the east side of the River Camel estuary approximately six miles (10 km) north of Wadebridge and half a mile (800 metres) south of Polzeath.Ordn ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, with his brother Hugh.

Personal life

Ridgway has three children and lives in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and Sussex. His children were educated at

St Edward's School, Oxford St Edward's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in Oxford, England. It is known informally as 'Teddies'. Approximately sixty pupils live in each of its thirteen houses. The school is a member of the Rugby G ...

the same school where

Sir Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...

had his children educated. He enjoys sailing and fast cars. He was awarded a

in the 2006 New Year Honours.

References

External links

Virgin Atlantic

''Sunday Times'' - Andrew Davidson January 2009

* ttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3338069.stm BBC News: Virgin staff 'shocked' by pilotIncludes photo of Ridgway and his statement following the arrest of a Virgin Atlantic pilot.

Video clips

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ridgway, Steve Living people Virgin Group people English chief executives 1951 births Businesspeople in aviation Alumni of Oxford Brookes University Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People from Tavistock People educated at Torquay Boys' Grammar School