Dame Ann Geraldine Limb, DBEDL (born 13 February 1953) is a British educationalist, business leader, charity chair and philanthropist.[1][2] In September 2015, she became the first woman Chair of The Scout Association[2] since the organisation was founded by Robert Baden-Powell in 1907.[3] Limb also served, in 2023–2024, as the 789th High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire, the first Quaker to hold this office.[4] Nominated for a life peerage in 2025, Limb faced calls for the honour to be revoked after having falsely claimed to hold both MA and PhD degrees.[5][6]
From 1976 until 2001, Limb had a career in further education (FE).[14] In December 1987, aged 34, she was appointed Principal of Milton Keynes College,[15] at the time the youngest ever FE college principal. After a decade, she moved to Cambridge Regional College, serving as Principal there until 2000.[14] She then took up the post of Chief Executive of the University for Industry (Ufi).[16]
Between 2017 and 2023, Limb served as the independent business Chair of the UK Innovation Corridor.[18]
Arts and culture
Limb is Chair of IF: Milton Keynes International Festival,[19] a multi-arts festival that engages people with music and sound in unusual spaces and places. The biennial festival, founded in 2010, runs for ten days in July across central Milton Keynes.
In 1998, Limb founded the Helena Kennedy Foundation, a social mobility charity supporting access to higher education.[20][21]
In July 2018, Limb made a major donation to Milton Keynes Gallery to enable the creation of the Limb Family Foyer in the newly extended gallery.[22]
In 2021, Limb set up the Limb Family Endowment Fund at the Stables Lane Dankworth Centre to engage the widest range of people in music and the arts, particularly giving access to the young, disabled, and people from economically and socially deprived backgrounds.
In 2022, Limb, with Quakers from Milton Keynes, created the Woburn Sands (Hogsty End) Quaker Burial Ground. Limb made a significant donation to fund the standing stone hewn in Cumbrian slate designed and hand cut by Lida Lopes Cardozo Kindersley, which features prominently in the Burial Ground. In February 2023, at his personal request, King Charles III made a private visit to Hogsty End Quaker Burial Ground to meet and thank the Quakers involved and to recognise the uniqueness of this heritage-led regeneration project.
As High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire 2023–2024, Limb set up with the help of the Milton Keynes Community Foundation, The Harmony Fund, a High Sheriff's Charitable Legacy Fund for Buckinghamshire to take forward the work of The King's Foundation in Buckinghamshire.
Charitable roles
In June 2021, Limb became a trustee of The King's Foundation. In September 2021 she was appointed Vice Chair, and in January 2025 was elected chair of the board of trustees.[23]
Limb is a member of the WorldSkills UK's Skills taskforce for global Britain,[25] Chair of the City & Guilds Group's City and Guilds of London Institute,[26] Chair of the Lifelong Education Institute, part of Res Publica,[27] Chair of the Board of Governors of The Manchester College, and a board member of the LTE Group.[28]
Other roles
From 2016 to 2020, Limb served as Chairman of the Executive Committee, and Deputy Chairman of the General Committee, of her London club, the Athenaeum. She served as Chairman of the General Committee from 2021 to 2024, being succeeded by Sir Philip May.[29][30]
In 2019, Limb was named in the Northern Power Women 2019 Power List as an inspiring role model and agent of change, rooted in the North of England.[50][51] In the same year, she was also celebrated as #1 LGBTQ+ public sector role model on the 2019 "OUTstanding LGBT+ Role Model Lists", supported by Yahoo Finance and published annually by diversity charity INvolve.[52][53]
Media appearances
Upon taking up her role as Chair of the Scouts in 2015, Limb was interviewed by Emma Barnett on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.[54] She subsequently appeared as a guest on Radio 4's Great Lives nominating George Fox, founder of Quakerism.[55] In December 2023, Limb appeared on BBC2's quiz programme Christmas University Challenge as part of the University of Liverpool alumni team.[56]
Controversies
In June 2023, Limb faced criticism from members of the Athenaeum club over her management, with much of the public concern about financial aspects of the running of the club. Critics claimed a renegotiated lease on its building — which features a statue of Athena, goddess of wisdom, on its front balcony — would cost an additional £35 million.[57]
In December 2025, it was reported that Limb had made inaccurate claims about her academic qualifications. An earlier version of her curriculum vitae and public biographies had listed a PhD from the University of Liverpool and an MA with Distinction from the Institute of Linguists, and she was frequently referred to as “Dr Ann Limb” in official documents and public appearances. However, subsequent media investigations found that she had not completed a doctoral degree and that the Institute of Linguists does not award MA degrees. Limb publicly acknowledged that she undertook but did not complete a PhD at the University of Liverpool and that her use of the title “Dr” was based on honorary doctorates she had received, rather than on an earned doctoral qualification. As a result, her online CV was updated to remove the unattained PhD and the “Dr” honorific. The revelations prompted political criticism and calls for scrutiny of her recent nomination to the House of Lords.[58]
Personal life
Having entered into a civil partnership on 21 December 2006, Limb married her partner Dr Margaret Cook, with whom she has shared her life since 1991, on 11 May 2019[59] and lives with her in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.[60]
↑Wace, Charlotte (1 June 2022). "Birthday honours 'reflect Queen's personal qualities'". The Times. Retrieved 2 June 2022. The list also recognises the first female and gay chairwoman of the Scouts, who is made a dame for services to young people and philanthropy. Ann Limb said it was of 'huge' importance that young people saw leaders from LGBTQ+ communities.
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