Aberdeens Billionaire - Mistakenly Trumped
- Raymond Smith
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Extracted from the Book- Aberdeens Billionaire - Sir Ian Wood
64. Donald Trumped
Sir Ian had always considered himself a good judge of character. His psychology degree had helped him navigate his way through life and people successfully. In 2010, Ian was 6 years into his Chancellery role at Robert Gordon University, and one of the perks of the role was the freedom to award an honorary degree to a person of his choice, the choice required to be approved by the committee but in essence Sir Ian was the recommender, and the honorary degrees panel would issue the final vote as to whether they deemed the recipient worthy.
Across town, a bold American character had been causing a stir in Aberdeen, looking to construct a golf course resort near Balmedie, a charming seaside town just north of Aberdeen. His contentious approach had irked locals and strained relations with the Scottish government due to his perceived entitlement and disregard for the Scottish planning process. This brash individual was none other than Donald J Trump. Donald frequently travelled from his residence in Florida to Aberdeenshire overseeing the construction of his new golf course and establishing connections with local businessmen. It's a given in life that billionaires are drawn to other billionaires, and since Sir Ian was virtually the sole billionaire resident in Aberdeen, Donald naturally found his way to him. While not close friends, the two had informally met at various events and occasional dinner parties, discovering some, but little common ground.
As rector of Robert Gordon University, Sir Ian put forth a personal recommendation to confer an honorary degree upon Donald Trump. Mr. Trump accepted the honour and received his degree at a ceremony held at the university later that year. The decision sparked huge discontent, with Dr. Kennedy, a former principal of the university, returning his own honorary degree in protest. Prior to the presentation, there were rumours of potential mass protests, riots, and other forms of dissent from those who disagreed with Sir Ian’s choice to honour Mr. Trump. At the event, Sir Ian praised Mr. Trump, highlighting the significant contribution the Scottish Trump International golf resort would make to diversify the economy of the northeast of Scotland. He lauded the golfing facility as a "major international attraction" that would put the region on the "world golfing map, pursuing excellence”. In 2015, Robert Gordons University revoked Donald Trump’s honorary degree after he declared his intention to ban Muslims from entering the United States during his campaign for the US presidency. The university issued a press release stating, “In the course of the current US election campaign, Mr. Trump has made a number of statements that are wholly incompatible with the ethos and values of the university.”
EXTRACTED FROM THE BIOGRAPHY - SIR IAN WOOD ABERDEENS BILLIONAIRE
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Billionaire industrialist Sir Ian Wood stands as the wealthiest homegrown founder of a company in Scotland. When he stepped down from the helm in 2013, his creation—Wood Group plc—had grown into a global powerhouse valued at $12 billion, operating in more than 60 countries, employing 60,000 people, and elevating his personal fortune to over £2 billion.
A figure both formidable and fiercely debated, Sir Ian Wood’s life unfolds as an extraordinary saga—one marked by relentless effort, unwavering determination, profound personal sacrifice, moments of tragedy, brushes with disaster, and the darker currents of betrayal, greed, immense wealth, and influence.
Beginning with his family’s modest fishing-boat repair business in 1967, he boldly steered the company into the emerging world of oil and gas just as the industry reached Britain’s shores in the 1970s. From there, he built a sprawling empire that touched shipping, energy, fishing, technology, travel, electronics, power generation, offshore drilling, and property development. His leadership oversaw the most dramatic industrial transformation Aberdeen had ever seen.
Now, for the first time, the story long hidden behind closed doors is revealed. This is an explosive, deeply revealing journey into the sometimes shadowy, often ruthless, yet undeniably electrifying world of the Aberdeen oil and gas sector—its power brokers, its high-stakes decisions, and the man whose influence shaped an era.
Sir Ian’s real-life ascent makes HBO’s Succession seem like little more than a gentle bedtime tale.
His achievements stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the greatest entrepreneurs in any industry, at any point in history.
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