Sir Peter Lampl retires as Chair of the Sutton Trust

Sir Peter Lampl has announced his decision to retire as Executive Chairman of the Sutton Trust, the UK’s leading social mobility foundation.

Since founding the Trust over 25 years ago, Sir Peter has given £65 million to the Trust, enabling low and moderate income young people to access outstanding educational opportunities.

Under his visionary leadership, the Trust has played the dominant role in establishing social mobility at the heart of the national conversation.

Sir Peter is also the founder of the Education Endowment Foundation, which has been an outstanding success and whose mission is to break the link between educational opportunity and family income. 

Under Sir Peter’s chairmanship, the foundations have together raised an astonishing sum which is approaching £1 billion.

During Sir Peter’s quarter of a century at the helm, the Sutton Trust has championed policies that have had a major impact on the lives of low and moderate income young people and have radically altered the way that policy makers think about social mobility.

It has commissioned more than 250 research studies, setting the national agenda on issues around social mobility, and has impacted government policy on more than 30 occasions.

The Trust’s unique programmes have transformed the lives of tens of thousands of bright young people from less well-off backgrounds, guiding many on their way to Oxford and Cambridge and other top British universities, and enabling others to take up places at leading American universities, such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and MIT.

Sir Peter will never stop campaigning and speaking up for low and moderate income young people.

Sir Peter said: “The Sutton Trust has exceeded my wildest hopes for what it could achieve. It has worked tirelessly to level the playing field of educational opportunity, and has revolutionised attitudes to social mobility in the UK.

“Nobody who knows me will be surprised to hear that I have no intention of slipping away quietly. In this next chapter of my life I will be seizing the opportunity to advocate for social mobility from an independent position.

“I am, and always will be, immensely proud of what the Trust has achieved.  I will do everything in my power to make sure that the Trust will continue to be the major force that it is now.”

Nick Harrison, Chief Executive of the Sutton Trust, said: 

“On behalf of all of us at the Sutton Trust I’d like to say a huge thank you to Sir Peter for his unwavering commitment to social mobility over the past 25 years. Peter is responsible for putting social mobility at the forefront of political debate with successive governments. His generosity and leadership have enabled the Sutton Trust to transform the lives of tens of thousands of young people. This work – I know – comes from Peter’s deeply held commitment to make the world a fairer place. It’s been a pleasure for me and the rest of the team to work with him.”