Tom Ilube

Ilube was educated at Teddington School, in Richmond-upon-Thames and Edo College in Benin City, Nigeria, followed by a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Benin. He later received a master's degree in business administration from London's Cass Business School.

Ilube was chief information officer (CIO) for the internet bank Egg.

Ilube founded the Hammersmith Academy, a state secondary school in Hammersmith, west London, which opened in September 2011 and has become one of the UK's "most innovative technology schools".

He has created and launched several early stage technology companies including Noddle, a credit reference service, Garlik, the online identity company Crossword Cybersecurity plc, a cyber security company and Iternal, a Bristol-based MedTech start up.

Ilube was a non-executive director of the BBC, from April 2017, stepping down in June 2021 to take up the role of chair of the Rugby Football Union (RFU), and a non-executive director of FTSE100 company WPP plc, the world's largest advertising company by revenue, effective October 2020. He resigned from the RFU in December 2024.

Ilube is the chair and founder of the African Gifted Foundation, a UK education charity focused on science and technology in Africa. They recently launched the African Science Academy, Africa's first all-girls science and maths academy. He was chair of Ada, the National College for Digital Skills. which opened in 2016 as the first brand new UK further education college in 23 years.

Ilube provides the prize money for the Nommo Awards for African science fiction and speculative fiction, announced at the Ake Book Festival in 2016 and hosted at WorldCon in Glasgow in 2024.