Huub van Beijeren, CEO at Stahl, received an honorary doctorate for his contribution to the international leather industry and his support for the University’s endeavours in the area of leather education.

Both Stahl and the University of Northampton are focused on a strong and sustainable future for the leather industry, a process that begins with educating the right people. Stahl actively supports this, not only via work placement opportunities and visiting the university for guest lectures and conferences, but via its own Stahl Campus also. Huub van Beijeren received the honorary award during an official award ceremony in Hong Kong.

"Huub van Beijeren has been Stahl’s chief executive officer since 2007," said Rachel Garwood, director of the University of Northampton’s Institute for Creative Leather Technologies. "He has led the company through the financial crisis and succeeded in making Stahl the market leader in process chemicals for leather and other substrates.

"Huub van Beijeren encourages and supports the ongoing engagement with students at the University of Northampton across the leather technology and fashion disciplines, which adds tremendous value to the student experience. Furthermore, as a CEO of market leader Stahl, he is focused on accelerating the process of making the entire leather processing chain more sustainable, which obviously is vital to our industry."

"I’m delighted to receive this honorary award from the University of Northampton, which I see as a recognition of all the good work done by the people who work at Stahl", said Huub van Beijeren in his acceptance speech. "The University and Stahl already have close links, I hope we can continue to develop the opportunities for students to gain valuable work experience and industry knowledge."