Rory Brooks is co-founder of the international private equity group MML Capital Partners. Rory graduated from UMIST (now Manchester University) in 1975. He funded the UK’s first chair in Enterprise at Manchester University in 2001. In 2005 the Rory & Elizabeth Brooks Foundation became the principal benefactor of Manchester University’s Brooks World Poverty Institute, currently chaired by Nobel Laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz. The Foundation has donated more than £3 million to date. Rory is Chairman of Manchester University’s Global Leadership Board and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University in October 2010. He is also a member of the Clinton Global Initiative.

Alongside Professor Stiglitz, Rory made a commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative for the Foundation to fund an initiative by the Brooks World Poverty Institute to establish an annual and continuing forum between leading researchers, practitioners and poor people to help better understand how to solve global and local poverty issues. The first such event, the Johannesburg Poverty Summit, was held in January 2011.

A 2008 article in the Independent listed Rory as one of the top 30 philanthropists in the UK.

Elizabeth Brooks is a Trustee for P3 (People Potential and Possibilities), a national award winning charity dealing with social exclusion and homelessness throughout the UK. Elizabeth is also a member of the Tate Patrons Committee. Rory and Elizabeth also make minor contributions to a range of other charities including the Whitley Fund for Nature.