SIR GRAEME ODGERS, chairman of Locate in Kent, and Bill South, who spearheaded the reconstruction of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Greenwich, are being honoured for their outstanding commitment to community developments.

They will receive their honorary degrees from the University Of Greenwich at a graduation ceremony in Rochester Cathedral on July 20.

Sir Graeme, who lives in Tonbridge, is also chairman of the Kent and Medway Economic Board.

Sir Graeme’s career has included a wide range of high-ranking posts, including director of the Industrial Development Unit at the Department of Industry, and Group Managing Director of BT.

In 1993, he became chairman of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission and was an effective and committed leader for seven years.

Recently, Sir Graeme has increasingly focused on more local concerns, encouraging inward investment and serving as a member of the Thames Gateway Partnership and the South East Regional Assembly. He was knighted for services to industry in 1997.

Mr South, who recently retired to Chichester, enjoyed a successful career in electronics. He was a member of the university in Medway and chairman of the Chatham Maritime-based School of Engineering’s industrial advisory board.

He was a director of Pye, Cambridge, before moving to be a director of the Dutch electronics giant Philips for 12 years with responsibility for all manufacturing and research and development within the company which, at the time, employed more than 35,000 people.

He has served on the government’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL) Advisory Board, the Industrial Advisory Board (ITAB) and the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) Engineering Board.

He was awarded a CBE in 1988 for his long and valuable service to the electronics industry. He also became the first person to be directly elected to the Fellowship of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.