Peter John Winkelman is the current

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of English

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

, as well 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 the property development consortium Inter MK Ltd that was responsible for developing the

Denbigh North Denbigh is a district in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England, to the north of Fenny Stratford and on the eastern side of the West Coast Main Line (and on the opposite side to the rest of Bletchley). It is in the civil parish of Bletchley ...

district of

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

Early career

His earlier career was in pop music production, as a

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

executive.From Wimbledon to Winkelman, a crazy new journey - ''The Observer'' Sunday 30 March 2008
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Involvement in football

Winkelman grew up as a supporter of his home town club,

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

before his eventual involvement with

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

and ultimately

. He is most notable for his involvement in the controversial decision in 2001 by the directors of Wimbledon FC to relocate to

, around 60 miles from their traditional south London base. The club subsequently went into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...

in 2003, and played their first match in Milton Keynes in September, controlled by the administrator. At the end of the season, the club was bought out by a consortium led by Winkelman, who became the club's chairman. The new board relaunched the club as Milton Keynes Dons FC, also giving the side a new all-white strip and club crest.

Personal life

He is married to wife Berni. Winkelman moved to Milton Keynes in 1993, and established

Great Linford Manor Linford Manor, also known as Great Linford Manor, is a seventeenth-century mansion or manor house converted into a recording studio complex in Great Linford, a district in Milton Keynes, England. It is now owned by Pete Winkelman who is chairman ...

, a seventeenth-century

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

converted into a

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...

complex in

Great Linford Great Linford is a historic village, district and wider civil parish in the northern part of Milton Keynes, England, between Wolverton and Newport Pagnell. Great Linford village Great Linford was one of the North Buckinghamshire villages i ...

, a district in Milton Keynes.

Honours

In June 2013, Winkelman was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Milton Keynes-based

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

"to mark his contribution to education through the world of professional football".MK Dons chairman receives Honorary Doctorate from The Open University ''The Open University'' June 6th, 2013
On 12 November 2015,

Milton Keynes Council Milton Keynes City Council is the local authority of the City of Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It has both borough status a ...

awarded him the council's highest ceremonial honour, the

Freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...

of the Borough of Milton Keynes.VIDEO: Pete Winkelman - ‘the man who made MK a world-renowned name’ - given Freedom of the Borough

Milton Keynes Citizen The Milton Keynes Citizen is the only freely distributed local newspaper in Milton Keynes. The newspaper is part of JPIMedia. The ''MK Citizen'' was founded by Bill Alder and Jerry West on 1 October 1981 and they sold to EMAP in 1987 and the pu ...

, 12 November 2015

References

Milton Keynes Dons F.C. English football chairmen and investors Living people 1957 births {{UK-music-bio-stub