Our People
Our Lead Ambassadors, who are our members’ CEO or equivalent, and our General Ambassadors, in plural roles, are thought leaders who actively support the introduction of best practice across the wider business community.
Lead Ambassadors
Dr Charles Woodburn
Group CEO BAE Systems
Kirsty Wilson
Global Exco Member Baker McKenzie
Venkat (C.S Venkatakrishnan)
CEO Barclays
Simon Carter
CEO British Land Company
Susan Gilchrist
Chair Global Clients Brunswick Group
Richard Houston
Senior Partner and CEO Deloitte
Chris O'Shea
CEO Centrica
Dame Carolyn McCall
CEO ITV
Jean-Pascal Porcherot
Co-Head Lombard Odier Investment Managers
Jen Mair
CEO Martin Currie A Franklin Templeton Company
Clare Woodman
Head of EMEA and CEO Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc
Rick Haythornthwaite
Chair NatWest Group
Susan Davy
CEO Pennon Group
Andrew Heath
CEO Spectris
General Ambassadors
Nick Anderson
NED BAE Systems, The Weir Group, Spectris, prior CEO Spirax Group
Evelyn Bourke
NED Admiral, Marks & Spencer, Bank of Ireland, AJ Bell
Diana Brightmore-Armour
CEO C. Hoare & Co., prior SID Berkeley Group
Ruth Cairnie
Chair Babcock, SID BT Group, prior SID Associated British Foods
Ann Cairns
Chair CAB Payments, TMF Group, prior Executive Vice Chair Mastercard
Dame Alison Carnwath
NED EG Group (Asda), Coller Capital, Paccar
Simon Collins
Chair Kubrick Group, Decoded, NED RAF, prior Chair KPMG
Dame Elizabeth Corley
Chair Schroders, NED BAE Systems, prior NED Morgan Stanley
Annette Court
Chair WH Smith, SID Sage, prior Chair Admiral
Dame Vivienne Cox
Chair Victrex, NED Haleon, prior Chair Vallourec
Mark Cutifani
Chair Vale-Base Metals, SID Laing O’Rourke, NED TotalEnergies, prior CEO Anglo-American
Irene Dorner
NED (prior Chair) Taylor Wimpey, prior NED Rolls-Royce
June Felix
NED RELX, prior CEO IG Group
Dr Nike Folayan MBE
Chair Association For Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers UK
Perdita Fraser
Chair National Numeracy, NED Digital Catapult
Sir Rupert Gavin
Chair The Living Room Cinema, prior CEO Odeon Group
Dr Nicola Hodson
Chair IBM UK&I, NED Beazley, Drax Group, Deputy President techUK
Wol Kolade
Deputy Chair NHS England, Managing Partner Livingbridge
Jeannette Lichner
NED ICO, prior NED FCA
Helge Lund
Chair bp, Novo Nordisk
Katie Murray
CFO NatWest Group, NED Phoenix Group
Sophie Neary
MD Retail & Consumer Goods Google, prior Group Director UK&I Meta
Sharmila Nebhrajani OBE
Chair NICE, NED Severn Trent, ITV, Halma, Coutts & Co
Orna NiChionna
Chair Eden Project, SID Burberry, prior SID Saga
Kathryn Parsons
Founder and Co-CEO Decoded
Dame Anne Richards
Vice Chair (prior CEO) Fidelity International
Gill Rider
President Marine Biological Association, prior Chair Pennon Group, NED Intertek
Paula Rosput Reynolds
Chair National Grid, NED GE, prior SID bp
Suki Sandhu OBE
Founder & CEO Audeliss and INvolve
Roni Savage
Founder and MD Jomas Associates
Tim Score
Chair Bridgepoint Group, NED Football Association, Prior Chair British Land
Dominic Schofield
Managing Partner Board and CEO Services UK Korn Ferry
Sam Smith
Founder and prior CEO finCap
Sharon Thorne
NED Rio Tinto, prior Global Chair Deloitte
Jen Tippin
COO NatWest Group, NED HMRC, Morgan Sindall
Anne Marie Verstraeten
prior Vice Chair BNP Paribas UK
Sara Weller
Chair Money & Pensions Service, NED Virgin Money, BT Group
Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston
Prior Chief of the Air Staff Royal Air Force
Board of Directors
Tara Cemlyn-Jones
Chief Executive Officer
Tara Cemlyn-Jones, Chief Executive Officer, 25x25. Previously Tara was NED Crossword Cybersecurity Plc; a Fintech Advisor; Head of Corporate Development (M&A) at lastminute.com; Head of Capital Markets at Espirito Santo Investment Bank (Haitong) and at Schroders (Citigroup). Tara is committed to improving sustainable best practices and data measurement.
Paras Anand
25x25 Non-Executive Director
Paras Anand, 25x25 Non-Executive Director, prior Chief Investment Officer at Artemis Investment Management, previously Chief Investment Officer Asia-Pacific at Fidelity International based in Singapore. Paras is a long-term sponsor of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and sustainable investment.
Simon Collins
25x25 Non-Executive Director
Simon Collins, 25x25 Non-Executive Director. Simon is Chair Kubrick Group, Decoded. Simon is also NED at the Royal Air Force and was previously Chair KPMG. He is a long-term advocate of gender-balance
Gillian Elcock
25x25 Non-Executive Director
Gillian Elcock, 25x25 Non-Executive Director. Founder of Denny Ellison. Currently NED Melrose, International Biotechnology Trust, STS Global Income & Growth Trust, Octopus Apollo VCT. Gillian was previously a Board Member at CFA UK and an Equity Research Analyst at Putnam Investments and Insight Investment
Karin Hoeing
25x25 Non-Executive Director
Karin Hoeing, 25x25 Non-Executive Director, Karin is the Group ESG, Culture & Business Transformation Director, BAE Systems, previously at Schlumberger, an oil & gas company, where she was President of Wireline. Karin is also a NED at Smiths Group plc and an expert on organisational culture and transformation.
Tracey McDermott
25x25 Non-Executive Director
Tracey McDermott, 25x25 Non-Executive Director. Prior Group Head, Conduct, Financial Crime and Compliance at Standard Chartered, and acting Chief Executive at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and chaired the Net Zero Banking Alliance. She cares deeply about ethics, fairness and social mobility.
Data Analytics Advisory Board
Sabine Azancot
Sabine Azancot, joined October 2023. Sabine is Vice President Innovation & Strategy at UnitedHealth Group. She was prior UK General Manager at Afiniti. She has previously worked in Investment banking (JP Morgan), Strategy Consulting (Bain & Company), Digital & Tech Advisory (IBM) and in senior operational & GM roles for tech driven innovative businesses and corporates, Vodafone and Woolworths (Australia)
Katie Brewis
Katie Brewis, joined May 2022. Katie is a Commercial Finance Director at Google and champion of sustainability. Outside Google, she works with several organisations on social mobility and addressing climate change.
Simon Collins
Simon Collins, 25x25 Non-Executive Director. Simon is Chair Kubrick Group, Decoded. Simon is also NED at the Royal Air Force and was previously Chair KPMG. He is a long-term advocate of gender-balance
Raif Jacobs
Raif Jacobs, joined April 2022. Raif is a Partner at Inovia Capital, previously Global CFO at Deliveroo and Head of the EMEA Finance Leadership team at Google. Raif has invested in and advised tech companies for over two decades.