Tom Ilube CBE

Tom Ilube CBE is the Chair of African Gifted Foundation and Founder of African Science Academy.

He is a technology entrepreneur and educational philanthropist. Tom is the founder/CEO of London based Crossword Cybersecurity plc, a Non-Executive Director of FTSE100 company WPP, the world largest advertising group and the Chair of the Rugby Football Union (RFU). Previously he was on the Board of the BBC and was Managing Director of Consumer Markets at Callcredit Information Group, a UK credit reference agency. Prior to Callcredit, he founded Garlik, a venture capital-backed identity protection company and prior to that served as Chief Information Officer of Egg plc, the pioneering British internet bank. His career has also included Goldman Sachs, PwC and the London Stock Exchange.

In his educational work, Tom is an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford and an Honorary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. Tom was the Founding Chair of Hammersmith Academy, London and was also the Chair of ADA College, the UK’s National College for Digital Skills. 

In 2017 Tom was named as Britain’s most influential Black person. In 2018 Tom was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2018 Birthday Honours for services to Technology and Philanthropy and has received Honorary Doctorates from City, University of London, University of Wolverhampton, University of Portsmouth, University of Coventry and the University of Benin, Nigeria.