Hilary McGrady

Last updated

Hilary McGrady (born in 1966) is a Northern Irish arts and cultural activist and environmentalist. [1] She became Director-General of the National Trust in March 2018. [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, McGrady grew up during The Troubles in Northern Ireland. McGrady’s father was a builder, while her mother looked after Hilary and her two siblings. [1] A career advisor at McGrady's school suggested she become a hairdresser, but she instead studied Graphic Design at art college. [1]

Career

After finishing her degree in Graphic Design, Hilary worked as a designer before moving into marketing, including as a Brand Manager for Diageo, the global drinks company. [3] She moved into the charity sector, heading the Northern Irish organisation Arts & Business. [4]

Belfast European Capital of Culture Bid

Following the departure of Shona McCarthy, McGrady joined the Imagine Belfast 2008 team as Chief Executive to lead the city’s bid to become European Capital of Culture. [4] Although the bid was unsuccessful, it led to the creation of a new a new Culture and Arts Plan 2003–2006 for the city, credited with boosting cultural activity and tourism. [5]

National Trust

In 2006 McGrady joined the National Trust as regional director for Northern Ireland. She later became Regional Director for Wales and for London and South East region. In 2014 she was appointed Chief Operating Officer, leading the Operations and Consultancy teams. [5]

In December 2017 it was announced that McGrady would succeed Helen Ghosh as Director-General of the Trust [6] and she started the role in March 2018. She is the organisation’s first Director-General not to have attended Oxbridge. [7]

In 2020 the Trust celebrated its 125th anniversary, with McGrady announcing that the organisation would reach Net Zero carbon emissions by 2030, including the planting of 20 million trees. [8] She also pledged to create 20 "green corridors" connecting urban areas with wilder countryside for people and nature. The first of these was announced in Bath in 2022. [9]

The majority of the anniversary celebrations were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with McGrady making a number of media interventions on the organisation's financial losses, and the need for a sustainable recovery. [10]

The publication of a research document exploring National Trust places' links with slavery and colonialism in 2020 attracted controversy. McGrady revealed in January 2022 that she had received death threats, although she had not reported these to the police because, she said, such abuse "comes with the territory." [11]

On 28 July 2023 McGrady was one of a number of signatories to an open letter to the Prime Minister expressing alarm about the UK Government's environmental policy. In her capacity as Director-General of the National Trust she said that the Trust's membership supported her in speaking up "for the future of life on this one precious planet" and warned that she would not "stand by whilst politicians use the environment as a political football". [12] [13]

Personal

Hilary lives in County Antrim with her husband whom she met at art college. Their relationship initially caused difficulty for her family who were Protestants and unionists, while her husband came from a Catholic, nationalist area. [1] They have three grown-up children. She lists her interests as the arts, gardening and hill walking. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sinn Féin</span> Irish political party

Sinn Féin is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The Social Democratic and Labour Party is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLAs) and two members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen's University Belfast</span> Public university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK

The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast, is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as "Queen's College, Belfast", and opened four years later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iris Robinson</span> British politician (born 1949)

Iris Robinson is a former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician in Northern Ireland. She is married to Peter Robinson, who was First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2008 to 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kate Hoey</span> UK politician born in Northern Ireland in 1946

Catharine Letitia Hoey, Baroness Hoey, better known as Kate Hoey, is a Northern Irish politician and life peer who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Home Affairs from 1998 to 1999 and Minister for Sport from 1999 to 2001. During the 1970s Hoey was involved in radical far-left groups but by the end of the decade became involved with the Labour Party. Hoey remained a member of the Labour Party for several decades while she was Member of Parliament (MP) for Vauxhall from 1989 to 2019, but resigned from the party in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humanists UK</span> Charitable organization promoting secular humanism

Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs" in the United Kingdom by campaigning on issues relating to humanism, secularism, and human rights. It seeks to act as a representative body for non-religious people in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Peters (athlete)</span> British athlete

Lady Mary Elizabeth Peters, is a Northern Irish former athlete and athletics administrator. She is best known as the 1972 Olympic champion in the pentathlon, for which she won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. Peters was named as Lady Companion of the Order of the Garter on 27 February 2019. She was installed in St. George's Chapel, the chapel of the Order, on Garter Day, 17 June.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret McDonagh, Baroness McDonagh</span> British politician (1961–2023)

Margaret Josephine McDonagh, Baroness McDonagh, was a British Labour politician who served as General Secretary of the Labour Party from 1998 to 2001. She later worked as a management consultant and was a co-president of the Labour Party Irish Society, and sat in the House of Lords as a life peer from 2004 until her death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monica McWilliams</span> British politician and academic (born 1954)

Monica Mary McWilliams is a Northern Irish academic, peace activist, human rights defender and former politician in Northern Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulster Orchestra</span> Symphony orchestra based in Belfast

The Ulster Orchestra, based in Belfast, is a full-time professional orchestra in Northern Ireland. The orchestra plays the majority of its concerts in Belfast's Ulster Hall and Waterfront Hall. It also gives concerts across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, including performances at the Belfast Festival, the BBC Proms, the Wexford Opera Festival, the Kilkenny Arts Festival, and the National Concert Hall, Dublin. The orchestra currently employs 63 full-time musicians and 17 administrative support staff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyric Theatre, Belfast</span>

The Lyric Theatre, or simply The Lyric, is the principal, full-time producing theatre in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Dawn Purvis is a former Unionist politician in Northern Ireland, who was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Belfast East from 2007 to 2011. She was previously the leader of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) from 2007 to 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carál Ní Chuilín</span> Irish politician (born 1964)

Carál Ní Chuilín, formerly known as Caroline Cullen, is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and former Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer. She has been a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Belfast North since 2007 and served in the Northern Ireland Executive as Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure until 2016. On 15 June 2020, she was appointed Minister for Communities on a temporary basis, due to the health of the previous minister, Deirdre Hargey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michelle O'Neill</span> Vice President of Sinn Féin

Michelle O'Neill is an Irish politician who served as deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland between 2020 and 2022. She has been serving as Vice President of Sinn Féin since 2018 and is the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Mid Ulster since 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gladys Maccabe</span> Northern Irish artist (1918–2018)

Gladys Maccabe, MBE HRUAFRSA MA(Hons)ROI was a Northern Irish artist, journalist and founder of The Ulster Society of Women Artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emma Little-Pengelly</span> Democratic Unionist Party politician

Emma Little-Pengelly is a Northern Irish barrister and Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician. She has been a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valley since 12 May 2022 when she was co-opted to replace DUP party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson who declined to take up his seat after being elected at the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election to remain in the House of Commons. Little-Pengelly is the DUP's Spokesperson for the Executive Office, Legacy and Human Rights. She previously served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Belfast South constituency in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 2017 until 2019, when she lost her seat to Claire Hanna of the SDLP, and as an MLA for the Belfast South constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sue Gray (civil servant)</span> British former civil servant (born 1957/1958)

Susan Gray is a British former civil servant who served as Second Permanent Secretary in the Cabinet Office from May 2021 to March 2023, where she reported to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Her report into the Partygate scandal criticised the government led by Boris Johnson and contributed to his downfall as Prime Minister.

Winnie M Li is an American writer, novelist and activist.

Tony Danker is a British lobbyist and former Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) from November 2020 to March 2023.

Patricia Yvonne Cullen is a Northern Irish nurse and trade unionist. Since July 2021, she has been General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Hilary McGrady, Director General of the National Trust". BBC. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  2. 1 2 "Director-General". National Trust. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  3. ↑ Beesley, Arthur (14 December 2018). "At home with National Trust chief Hilary McGrady". Financial Times. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  4. 1 2 "The new face of Imagine Belfast". belfasttelegraph. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  5. 1 2 "Culture of Belfast", Wikipedia, 17 December 2020, retrieved 17 March 2022
  6. ↑ Plummer, John. "Hilary McGrady to be next director-general of the National Trust". www.thirdsector.co.uk. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  7. ↑ Correspondent, Jerome Starkey, Countryside. "National Trust must do more in inner cities, says new chief Hilary McGrady". ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 17 March 2022.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ↑ "Hilary McGrady celebrates our 125th anniversary". National Trust. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  9. ↑ "Bath 'green corridor' will be first of 20 to improve access to nature". the Guardian. 28 January 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  10. ↑ McGrady, Hilary (1 May 2020). "The Government must protect nature as the UK looks to move beyond the coronavirus crisis". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  11. ↑ "National Trust boss says she received death threats amid 'woke' row". the Guardian. 3 January 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  12. ↑ Stuart Stone, No public mandate for delay, BusinessGreen, 28 July 2023 (retrieved on 1 August 2023).
  13. ↑ Kevin Rawlinson, Nature groups prepared to 'mobilise' 20m members over UK climate policy, the Guardian, 29 July 2023 (retrieved on 1 August 2023).
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.