 He was the founding Chairman of Devon and Cornwall Training and Enterprise Council, the TEC National Council, the West Country Development Corporation, served as a National TEC Assessor, Advisor to the Secretary of State for Employment, Member of the National Training Task Force, Member of the Councils of the CBI and Royal Society of Arts and as a Governor of the University of Plymouth.In 1998 he was appointed Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Devon (a post which he held until 2015), and a Knight of Grace of the Order of St John and Justice of the Peace.In 2001 he received an Honorary Doctorate from Sheffield Hallam University and in 2002 was commissioned Honorary Captain Royal Naval Reserve.