Nigel Short is one of the most successful businessmen in Wales. He was awarded a CBE for services to the economy in Wales in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Nigel has been involved with a number of top companies, but his most significant appointment has been with Penderyn, the award-winning Welsh whisky company with distilleries in Llandudno and South Wales, where he has served as an Executive Chairman and is now a Director and shareholder.
He was born in the Cynon Walley and educated at Aberdare Boys’ Grammar School. In an early indication of one of his future endeavours, Nigel played prop for the school team and featured in two Welsh secondary school final trials. He later became the high-profile chairman of Scarlets RFC – one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and the one designated to represent North Wales – for eight years, guiding the club to numerous play offs and semi-finals as well as winning the Pro 12 league in 2017. He coached juniors for many years and is a qualified rugby referee.
Growing up, Nigel lived only a few miles from the village of Penderyn. But before his career took him there, he left school at 16 and joined the family business, spending 25 years working in the steel industry undertaking sophisticated on-site logistics and employing 1,500 people in six different countries.
When the family business was sold to Brambles Limited, Nigel ran the European and North American operations until 2002 when he moved to Penderyn. Over the last 20 years Penderyn has become an iconic Welsh brand and recently he has brought this brand to Llandudno by opening an exhibition distillery there.
Nigel has always been irresistibly drawn to new opportunities and he has held directorships at Short Brothers Energy, Short Brothers Homes and Hygrove Homes. More recently he is working with researchers in a new medical technology business focused on reducing hospital-acquired infections.
He also runs a 400-acre organic lamb and beef farm in Carmarthenshire and is one of six private sector members on the Economic Strategy Board helping to deliver the £1.3 billion Swansea Bay City Deal which has the potential to transform the economy of South Wales.
Nigel gives back to the community in many ways. He supports Sustran, the national cycle network, several local charitable causes, and he is a trustee of the RFU injured players foundation.
Nigel’s determination and business acumen are an inspiration to many, from private and public sector leaders to today’s business students and young entrepreneurs who aspire to similar success. As a man who has played a key role in industries that Wales is famous for – steel and rugby – and Penderyn Whisky, he describes himself as single-minded and a perfectionist. He comments ‘the answer to most problems in life is hard work. If you work hard and keep at is, the breaks will come’.