Emily Lawson

Last updated

Dame
Emily Lawson
DBE
Education North London Collegiate School
Westminster School
Alma mater Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
University of East Anglia
University of Oxford
University of Pennsylvania
Scientific career
Institutions NHS England
Thesis Molecular and genetic analysis of a modified Ac transposon in Arabidopsis.  (1993)

Dame Emily Jane Ruth Lawson DBE is a British management consultant and former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of NHS England. She has been the COO of management consultancy Newton Consulting since October 2025. Lawson led the initial rollout of the NHS COVID-19 vaccine programme in 2020 and the subsequent booster programme in 2021. Prior to this, she worked for McKinsey & Company, Morrisons, and Kingfisher plc in human resources.

Contents

Early life and education

Lawson was born in Westminster, London in March 1967. [1] She attended North London Collegiate School and Westminster School.[ citation needed ] She is Jewish. [2] She studied Natural Sciences at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, graduating with a first in 1989. [3] While there she was president of the Caius Science Society in her final year. [4] She then completed a doctorate in molecular genetics at the John Innes Centre, University of East Anglia, with a thesis on transposons in Arabidopsis in 1993. [3] [5] [6] After this, she undertook a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania and then worked as a technology and business development manager at the biotech firm Avitech Diagnostics for two years. [3]

Career

Lawson obtained an MBA at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford in 1998. [7] She joined management consultancy McKinsey & Company in the same year. [3] Lawson was promoted to partner at the firm's London office and led its human capital practice across Europe, Middle East, and Africa, and co-wrote its 2012 report Women Matter 2012: Making the Breakthrough on improving gender diversity in business. [5] She joined supermarket chain Morrisons as their group Human Resources Director in September 2013. [8] Lawson left the company in 2015, [9] and joined Kingfisher plc as their Chief People Officer. [10] She left Kingfisher plc after a year. [11]

In November 2017, Lawson joined NHS England as their National Director for Transformation and Corporate Operations. She was responsible for business transformation and the integration of NHS Improvement into the organisation. [12] Lawson was promoted to Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) in early 2020. [13] She left this role to become the Senior Responsible Officer for the NHS COVID-19 vaccine deployment programme in November 2020 and led its initial rollout. [14] She was seconded to lead Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Delivery Unit for the summer of 2021 before returning to lead the vaccine booster programme in October 2021. [15] [16] [17] Lawson returned to lead the unit in 2022. [18] She left this role in August 2023 and returned to NHS England in October 2023 as its interim Chief Operating Officer (COO) replacing Jim Mackey. [19] [20] [21] She left NHS England in March 2025 and became COO of management consultancy Newton Consulting in October 2025. [22] [23]

Lawson was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to the NHS, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. [24] [25] She is a founding member of and deputy chair of the 30% Club which aims to improve gender diversity in business. [26]

Selected publications

References

  1. ↑ "District Information". FreeBMD. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  2. ↑ Rocker, Simon (29 April 2021). "Rabbi Sacks was my inspiration, says NHS director who led vaccine rollout". The Jewish Chronicle. Archived from the original on 7 January 2024. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Leroux, Marcus (24 April 2013). "Business big shot: Emily Lawson". The Times. Archived from the original on 1 January 2022.(subscription required)
  4. ↑ "Damehood for Caius alumna". Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. 6 January 2022. Archived from the original on 28 January 2022. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  5. 1 2 Devillard, Sandrine; Graven, Wieteke; Lawson, Emily (2012). "Women Matter 2012 Making the Breakthrough". McKinsey & Company. Archived from the original on 25 October 2023. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  6. ↑ Lawson, Emily J. R (1993). Molecular and genetic analysis of a modified Ac transposon in Arabidopsis (Thesis). OCLC   53495933.
  7. ↑ "School Board Vice-Chair among New Year Honours List". Saïd Business School. 11 January 2022. Archived from the original on 6 January 2024. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  8. ↑ Lawson, Alex. "Morrisons appoints McKinsey partner as group HR director". Retail Week. Archived from the original on 7 January 2024. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  9. ↑ Tugby, Luke. "Morrisons loses another director as HR boss Emily Lawson departs". Retail Week. Archived from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  10. ↑ Chapman, Matthew (15 September 2015). "Kingfisher top team becomes majority female as DIY giant hires Emily Lawson". Retail Week. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  11. ↑ Hardy, Emily (23 September 2016). "Exclusive: Kingfisher appoints new exec following exit of Emily Lawson". Retail Week. Archived from the original on 7 January 2024. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  12. ↑ "Emily Lawson". NHS Confederation. Archived from the original on 1 October 2023. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  13. ↑ "Hospitals get ramped up for delivery of protective kit to staff fighting coronavirus". NHS England. 23 March 2020. Archived from the original on 23 September 2023. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  14. ↑ "NHS vaccine programme chief among health service honours". NHS England. Archived from the original on 31 December 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  15. ↑ "NHS England » Former vaccine chief returns as NHS prepares for winter". NHS England. 22 October 2021. Archived from the original on 1 January 2022. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  16. ↑ Rapson, Jasmine (22 October 2021). "Vaccine lead returns to NHS England months after joining No 10". Health Service Journal. Archived from the original on 1 December 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  17. ↑ Shipman, Tim (12 September 2021). "King Boris keeps his court guessing". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 17 February 2023. Retrieved 7 January 2024.(subscription required)
  18. ↑ Shipman, Tim (1 January 2022). "A sticky situation: can Boris Johnson escape the web?". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 23 June 2023. Retrieved 7 January 2024.(subscription required)
  19. ↑ Zeffman, Henry; Wright, Oliver (29 June 2023). "'Five pledges' chief leaves Whitehall". The Times.
  20. ↑ "NHS executive group". NHS England. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  21. ↑ Discombe, Matt (16 October 2023). "Mackey moves to Newcastle as NHSE appoints new COO". Health Service Journal. Retrieved 10 January 2024.(subscription required)
  22. ↑ Serle, Jack (29 October 2025). "Ex-NHSE director joins consultancy". Health Service Journal.(subscription required)
  23. ↑ "Newton accelerates growth ambitions with hire of Dame Emily Lawson as COO". Newton. 29 October 2025.
  24. ↑ "No. 63571". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 2022. p. N8.
  25. ↑ England, NHS. "NHS England » NHS vaccine programme chief among health service honours". NHS England. Archived from the original on 31 December 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  26. ↑ "Covid Vaccine Delivery Head Encourages Self-Belief". Girls' Schools Association. 11 August 2022. Archived from the original on 29 September 2023. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
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