A graduate Engineer and Chartered Accountant, Nigel has been Managing Director of Windermere Lake Cruises Limited, Cumbria’s largest visitor attraction, since 2004. He is also Managing Director of Winander Leisure Limited, a director of Winander Group Holdings Limited, Lakeland Motor Museum Limited and Rushbond plc, a Yorkshire based property company.
From 2007 to 2017 he was a director of Cumbria Tourism (CT), the county’s Destination Management Organisation, and was chair of the committee responsible for managing CT’s finances. Nigel joined the Board of Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership (CLEP) in 2017 and chairs both CLEP’s Visitor Economy Sector Panel and its Finance, Audit and Resources Committee. Nigel also represents CLEP on the Lake District National Park Partnership.
In late 2020 Nigel was appointed to the Tourism Industry Council, a collaboration between Government and the tourism industry focusing on improving the tourism sector including jobs, transport and deregulation.
Nigel was appointed as a Trustee/Director of South Cumbria Rivers Trust in 2021, a charity/Trust with the principal objective to monitor, conserve and protect and, when necessary, rehabilitate and improve the biodiversity of lakes, rivers and streams South Cumbria and adjacent coastal waters for the public’s benefit.
In the Queen’s Birthday 2022 Honours List Nigel was recognised with the honour of Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to tourism and the economy in Cumbria. He was made an Honorary Fellow of the University of Cumbria in July 2022.
