A Welsh speaking lawyer by profession, Bleddyn was brought up in Pembrokeshire though his family, over many generations, hails from Carmarthenshire. His abiding connection with the University began with his parents, who both joined Swansea as students in 1948.
Bleddyn studied law at London and Oxford determined ‘to be neither a preacher nor a teacher' - the usual Welsh exports to England as he says and notwithstanding his parents were in each such profession. On graduating he was called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn where he practised at the Chancery bar before determining that ‘ivory towers and a professional practice’ not far beyond the boundaries of Temple Bar were not for him.
He began a very different commercial life working in management positions in energy companies which took him firstly to London followed by postings in California, Paris, Singapore and Moscow ^^^^ which endorsed his decision to pursue a career embracing diverse cultures as well as the challenges and opportunities which came with it.
Bleddyn was enticed back into law when he was asked to join Clifford Chance in the mid-90’s, eventually basing himself in London as Global Head of their Oil and Gas practice. There he led on a number of international project finance transactions including the first ever privately financed power station in Egypt, gas gathering transmission pipeline in Brazil, several intergovernmental energy projects in the Middle East and, at the time, the largest project financed transaction in the world at over $20bn. By then, Bleddyn had moved to Moscow to join his wife who was the British Ambassador there.
Bleddyn retired from Clifford Chance just over 10 years ago and, determined not to hang up his quill pen and parchment paper, embarked on what he calls his Welsh DNA trail and a ‘giving back’ decade: as a Trustee of the Wales Millennium Centre (home to the Welsh National Opera); as Chair of London Welsh Rugby Club – where the club gained promotion not once but twice to the English premiership division – and as a Director of his beloved Scarlets rugby club.
Bleddyn joined the University’s governing body as Pro-Chancellor in 2017 and served as Swansea University’s Chair of Council between December 2019 and 2023, a period of extraordinary sectorial change, during which his guidance was invaluable.
Bleddyn maintains close links with this University, chairing its Development Board as well as sitting on its Pension Committee. He was until recently Chair of a very green renewable company, based in Wales, and remains on its Board as a Director hoping, as he says: ‘to gain some degree of penance for his many years in the oil and gas sector’.