Former bosses of HSBC and Rolls-Royce knighted in new year honours
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Noel Quinn and Warren East, as well as Chanel chief Leena Nair among business figures to be honoured. The former chief executives of HSBC and Rolls-Royce have been knighted, as figures from the business world joined sportspeople, entertainers and public servants on the new year honours list.
![[Noel Quinn]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/72ae0fa1e6623a0ee3a4da0ba12f1a05f7fa28ad/0_375_3650_2189/master/3650.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Noel Quinn, 62, the bank’s chief executive from 2019 until September, received a knighthood for services to finance and net zero. He is credited with revamping HSBC and achieving record profits in 2023, when his pay roughly doubled to £10.6m during the year.
![[Poppy Gustafsson]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/c5b6321a1b1c830095ae9ca2572264d31b094faf/0_410_7616_4569/master/7616.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
In 2020, Quinn also outlined the bank’s goal of hitting net zero carbon emissions by 2050. He was also a principal of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, which commits financial institutions to align their lending and investment portfolios with environmental targets.
![[Leena Nair]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/118032115b7704cbf61704a3e764b35080a89490/1075_310_1607_964/master/1607.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The former Rolls-Royce boss Warren East, 63, also received a knighthood for services to the economy and net zero. He led the jet-engine manufacturer between 2015 and 2022, the last two years of which were widely viewed as a turbulent spell for the aviation industry because of the pandemic.
The challenges East faced included agreeing to pay £671m to settle a bribery and corruption scandal from before his time, as well as discovering costly cracks in Roll-Royce jet engines. He also oversaw initial efforts to power aircraft engines using so-called sustainable aviation fuels.
Andrew Haines, 60, the chief executive of Network Rail, also received a knighthood for services to the transport sector and the economy. He has now taken on a second role, leading the government’s transition team that will take the rail industry towards a publicly run model under Great British Railways.
