Portraits I (2019)
Dave Norwood
BA Modern History 1988
Honorary Fellow
Entrepreneur and Investor
Ask Dave Norwood what the two biggest parts of his life are and without hesitation he will say ‘Chess and Keble,’ one inexorably linked to the other.
Bolton born and bred, Dave was given his first chess set aged just six. His father, an electrician, had made it from bits of slate he’d found at work. No-one in the family played, so Dave taught himself. He became an international chess master at 16.
Encouraged to apply to Keble because it had a reputation for chess, Dave thought he was, in his words, a natural shoe-in but was rejected by Eric Stone. However, that galvanised him to knuckle down, get good grades and beleaguer Dr Stone until he reconsidered and offered Dave a place. The two remained great friends until Eric’s death in 1993:
“It was a good life lesson; it instilled tenacity, don’t take no for an answer, go round the rules.”
After Keble and a brief sojourn in finance, Dave returned to Oxford enthused by combining new technology and science. He founded the IP Group in 1999 raising £20m in just one afternoon, funding the expansion of the Chemistry Department.
Dave was the founding Chairman of Oxford Sciences Innovation, an investment company focused on supporting spinouts from the University. It has so far raised over £600m and is the lead tenant in The H B Allen Centre. He is an Honorary Fellow and a member of the Chancellor’s Court of Benefactors. He and his wife, Rebecca, were married in Keble Chapel and they divide their time between Oxford and Dartmoor.
“Oxford has always been a big part of my life—it can accommodate any number of different people and that’s the magic of the place—you can be any number of things.”
Although he doesn’t play chess as often as he used to, he still has that first board his dad made for him.