VIP turned up on board (7)
I believe the answer is:
notable
'vip' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'turned up on board' is the wordplay.
'turned up' is a reversal indicator.
'board' becomes 'table' (synonyms).
'on' back-to-front is 'no'.
'no'+'table'='NOTABLE'
(Other definitions for notable that I've seen before include "Impressive" , "Remarkable, worthy of comment" , "Star" , "Significant or distinguished" , "Outstanding" .)