Rt Hon Baroness Virginia Bottomley DLChair of the Board Practice, Odgers Berndtson

Virginia chairs the Board Practice at Odgers Berndtson, the UK’s leading executive search firm. The Board Practice conducts searches for Chairs, Chief Executives and Non-Executive Directors of commercial businesses and public bodies. She has been involved in the appointments of many pioneering women including Dame Inga Beale, CEO of Lloyds, Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, the Director General of the CBI, Baroness Valerie Amos, Vice-Chancellor of SOAS and Susan Kilsby as Chair of Shire.

She is a member of the International Advisory Council of Chugai Pharmaceutical Co (Japan). NED of AkzoNobel and Bupa, she has been an NED at Smith & Nephew.

As part of her pro-bono activities, Virginia is a Trustee of The Economist Newspaper and Chancellor of the University of Hull.

Virginia held several Ministerial positions under Baroness Margaret Thatcher and Sir John Major. She was Minister for Health from 1989-92, Secretary of State for Health from 1992-95. From 95-97 she was the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and sport. In 2005 she was appointed a member of the House of Lords.

Following her first degree, Virginia gained her MSc in Social Administration from the London School of Economics where she is now an Emeritus Governor.

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