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Business and Energy Secretary Andrea Leadsom MP has appointed Professor Alan Thorpe as a non-executive director to the Met Office Board.

Alan will take up his role from November 2019 for 3 years. He will work with the Met Office Board and executive team to ensure the organisation continues to offer global leadership in the fields of weather and climate science.

Alan said:

It is a privilege to be selected as a non-executive director of the Met Office. The scientific research and operational forecasts from the Met Office have an international reputation for quality, accuracy and reliability. I look forward to working with board colleagues, the executive team and staff to help the Met Office build on its successes whilst continuing to transform to face the challenges of the future.

About Professor Alan Thorpe

Alan is currently a Visiting Professor at the University of Reading following on from being the Director-General of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts between 2011 and 2015.

Alan has wide-ranging public sector and private sector experience which he will bring to the role. He is a former Chief Executive Officer of the Natural Environment Research Council, the founding Director of the National Centre for Atmospheric Science and a Professor of Meteorology at the University of Reading.

Alan was appointed as an OBE in 2016, has honorary degrees of Doctor of Science from the universities of Warwick, Birmingham, and Reading and was awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Meteorological Society in 2018.

He is also involved with the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery of the World Bank and the Global Weather Enterprise Forum. He provides scientific advice to Spire Global.

About the Met Office

The Met Office is the UK’s National Meteorological Service and home to the Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Science and Services, consistently rated among the top climate research institutes in the world. Through its weather and climate services it is expected to make a £30 billion contribution to the UK economy over this decade, protecting lives and supporting productivity and growth across the country.