The Baroness Morrissey | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| Assumed office 14 September 2020 Life Peerage | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Helena Louise Atkins (1966-03-22)22 March 1966 (age 59) Bowdon, Cheshire, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 9, includingFlo Morrissey |
| Education | Bishop Luffa School |
| Alma mater | Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge |
| Occupation | Banker |
Helena Louise Morrissey, Baroness Morrissey,DBE (néeAtkins; 22 March 1966),[1] is a British financier, campaigner andConservative peer.
Morrissey was born inBowdon,Cheshire, in 1966.[2] She grew up inAlverstoke nearPortsmouth,[3] and was educated atBishop Luffa School.[2][4] Both of her parents were teachers.[4] She studied philosophy atFitzwilliam College, Cambridge.[2][4]
Morrissey began her career at the New York and London bond desks atSchroders. Finding her career path blocked there, she moved toNewton Investment Management in the early 1990s[5] as a fixed income fund manager.[6][7] Morrissey became Newton's chief executive;[5] as of 2015, it manages£47 billion of assets.[8] Morrissey left Newton Investment Management in 2016.[9] She has been on the board ofLegal & General Investment Management andSt James's Place.[10]
In July 2021, Morrissey joined the board ofAJ Bell, before becoming chair in January 2022.[11] Morrissey announced in September 2022 that she was resigning as chair of the Board.[12][13]
In June 2022 it was reported Morrissey resigned as director at theForeign Commonwealth and Development Office, a paid role to provide "strategic leadership" and "advice on performance and delivery". She agreed to leave having been told byLiz Truss, then foreign secretary, her position was untenable following criticism of then Prime MinisterBoris Johnson for what Morrissey perceived as a lack of genuine contrition following the "Partygate" scandal.[14]
All Perspectives Ltd, the company behind theGB News television and radio news channel,gained the Baroness as a director in November 2022.[15]
Morrissey chairs the boards of Fidelis Insurance Holdings, Altum Group, and Barnett Waddingham.[16][17]
In 2010, Morrissey established the30% Club to campaign for greater female representation on company boards. She is a trustee at the Eve Appeal, which raises money forgynaecological cancers, and she is a former chairperson of the corporate board of theRoyal Academy of Arts.[18]
In 2016, Morrissey was awarded an honorary doctorate by theUniversity of Cambridge.[19]
Morrissey was appointedCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the2012 New Year Honours for services to UK business and promotedDame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the2017 Birthday Honours for services to diversity in financial services.[20][21]
On 3 September 2020, she was createdBaroness Morrissey, of Chapel Green in the Royal County of Berkshire. She sits in theHouse of Lords as aConservative. On 28 September 2020, she made her maiden speech in the Lords.[22]
Baroness Morrissey and her husband, Richard, a former financial journalist and stay-at-home dad, are the parents of nine children, three boys and six girls, one of whom is musicianFlo Morrissey.[5][23][24] They met whilst studying at Cambridge and live inNotting Hill, London.[4][25]
Morrissey is the author of a book,A Good Time to be a Girl (HarperCollins, 2018). She was the guest on theBBC Radio 4 programmeDesert Island Discs on Sunday 22 March 2020.
Morrissey was criticised in 2021 after she tweeted that there was no current pandemic, and "CCP fake videos started this".[26]
In October 2021 her second book,Style and Substance, a Career Guide for Women who want to Win at Work, was published byLittle, Brown Books. She gives presentation advice and is known for wearing bold colours.[27] She spoke on the topic of free markets at theAlliance for Responsible Citizenship in October 2023, arguing for the importance of individual character and virtue, overenvironmental, social, and corporate governance.[28][29]
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