John Pullinger CB

Honorary graduates 2016-17

John Pullinger CB (LLD)

Wednesday 13 July 3:00pm

John Pullinger began his career in 1980 when he joined the civil service after graduating in Geography and Statistics from the University of Exeter. After several statistical, research and policy roles in different departments, John joined the Central Statistical Office as a senior civil servant in 1992. He was the project manager for the creation of the Office for National Statistics and was the policy lead on the development of the Government Statistical Service (GSS). He worked on diverse projects, including responsibility for flagship publications like ‘Social Trends’, leading the neighbourhood statistics programme as well as being actively involved in the creation of the Statistics Commission and National Statistics in 2000.

In 2004, John became the 14th Librarian to the House of Commons. He continued to be involved in the statistical community and took up the presidency of the Royal Statistical Society in January 2013 (ending in June 2014).

John became the National Statistician, Head of the GSS and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority in 2014. He is the most recent Chair of the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) and in this capacity has been greatly involved in the development of measures for the Sustainable Development Goals. John has represented the UK internationally at the UNSC, Eurostat and OECD.