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FEATURE
Richard Smith CBE (pictured left), Operations Director of the Invictus Games Foundation, and Dominic Reid OBE, Chief Executive of the Foundation
They are Invictus
Old Oundelian Editorial Board member Polly Irvine speaks to Dominic Reid OBE (B 80) and Richard Smith CBE (St A 79) about their fascinating roles with the Invictus Games Foundation, and the important part Oundle has played in their lives
Mention the Invictus Games and one name springs to mind – which is exactly how Dominic Reid OBE (B 80) and Richard Smith CBE (St A 79) like it. As the CEO and Director of Operations respectively of the Invictus Games Foundation, they are the quiet influencers behind the phenomenon. From their unassuming offices in hyper-trendy Borough in London SE1, they manage the process of selecting host countries, oversee the delivery of the Games and work to develop the Invictus Games’ brand and legacy
with a lightness of touch that belies their determination and clarity of purpose.
Dominic was intended for Westminster, until his father had a chance encounter with the float that Oundle School was entering in the Lord Mayor’s Parade of 1974. Reid senior was an architect, designer and Pageantmaster of the City of London’s Lord Mayor’s Show, and this unusual combination of roles uniquely qualified him to spot and fully appreciate the skill and hours that had gone into the float’s construction. He was so impressed
by the quality of the workmanship that he went to look at the School’s foundry, in which it had been made, and the rest, as Dominic says, is history.
A music scholar, he also excelled academically, but it is the music he speaks of most. As a cellist, he spent what felt like a great deal of his time hauling his instrument from Bramston to the Music School, but loved it. He was a member of the orchestra that recorded a performance of Corelli and Bach’s Double Violin Concerto, and, as a chorister, he sang in Handel’s
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THE OLD OUNDELIAN 2018 –2019
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