Following the announcement in November 2017 of the appointment of Kenneth Olisa (OBE) as Interswitch’s new chairman, the businessman and philanthropist has been recognized, amongst other notable individuals, in Queen Elizabeth (II)’s New Year Honours.

Olisa is a British businessman with a career in technology that commenced at IBM and spans over 40 years. He founded and led the technology merchant bank Interregnum and is also the founder and chairman of Restoration Partners, an independent boutique technology merchant bank, reputed as architects of the Virtual Technology Cluster model. He is currently a Director of Thomson Reuters.

In 2015, he became the first black Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London having been appointed by the Queen.

By this development, Olisa, the first British-born black man to serve as a Director of a FTSE-100 business is now officially honoured with a Knighthood for services to business and philanthropy in the United Kingdom.

He is Chair of the Shaw Trust, supporting the disabled and chronically unemployed to find work; founding Chair of the Powerlist Foundation, supporting future leaders from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) and disadvantaged backgrounds; a former Governor of the Peabody Trust; and a former Non-Executive Director of the West Lambeth NHS Trust.

Commenting on the development, Founder and Group CEO of Interswitch, Mitchell Elegbe, said “Sir Ken has distinguished himself in professional and social spheres with a remarkable pedigree of service in the public domain.