Margaret Casely-Hayford

Last updated

Margaret Casely-Hayford
CBE
Born
Margaret Henrietta Augusta Casely-Hayford

1954 (age 69–70)
London, England
NationalityBritish
Alma mater Somerville College, Oxford, Inns of Court School of Law
Occupation(s)Lawyer, businesswoman and public figure
Relatives J. E. Casely Hayford (grandfather);
Gus Casely-Hayford, Joe Casely-Hayford, Peter Casely-Hayford (brothers)
Website margaretcasely-hayford.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Margaret Henrietta Augusta Casely-Hayford [1] CBE (born 1959) [2] is a British lawyer, businesswoman and public figure who is active in the voluntary sector. She is Chancellor of Coventry University, [3] chairs the board of trustees of Shakespeare's Globe, [4] and was formerly chair of ActionAid UK and company secretary and head of legal services for leading retailers the John Lewis Partnership. [5] [6] [7] She is in the forefront of working to create diversity on boards. [8] [9]

Contents

Biography

Margaret Casely-Hayford was born in London, England, into the prominent Ghanaian Casely-Hayford family: the daughter of Victor Casely-Hayford, [1] an accountant who had trained as a barrister, [2] her grandfather was the Gold Coast lawyer, writer and politician J. E. Casely Hayford, and her brothers are historian Gus Casely-Hayford, designer Joe Casely-Hayford and Peter Casely-Hayford, formerly managing director of TV production company Twenty Twenty. [6] [10] [11] In 2008, the Casely-Hayfords were named on "The Black Powerlist" as the most influential black family in the UK. [7]

Casely-Hayford studied law at Somerville College, Oxford, graduating in 1982, and did her Bar finals at the Inns of Court School of Law, being called to the Bar in 1983 (Gray's Inn). [2] [12] She worked for 20 years with the law firm Dentons, where she was made a Partner, becoming the first black woman to hold such a position in a City firm. [6] She specialised in planning matters, and in 1995 wrote a book, Practical Planning: Permission and the Application. [13]

From 2000 to 2008, she was a government-appointed trustee of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital Charity and of the Geffrye Museum and was on the development board of the Young Vic theatre. [14] During 2012–16, she was a non-executive director of NHS England, and on the Board of the British Retail Consortium. She also serves on the Metropolitan Police panel overseeing the investigation into police corruption. [15] She is in the forefront of working to create diversity on boards. [7] [8]

For nine years, until 2014, she was Director of Legal Services and Company Secretary for the John Lewis Partnership. [15] She was also on the Board of the British Retail Consortium for four years to 2014. [16]

She became Chair of the charity ActionAid UK in 2014, and in 2016 she became a member-nominated Director of The Co-op. [16] She is an ambassador of Board Apprentice and Chairs the advisory board of Ultra Education, working to develop young entrepreneurs, and a non-executive director of WetZebra Media. [8] She is also a trustee of The Radcliffe Trust, one of Britain's oldest charities supporting classical music performance and training, [17]

She chaired the diversity review conducted by CILIP in 2017 into the awarding of the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals. [18] [19] Committed to encouraging all business leaders to promote diversity on boards, she has said: "That is the future. There is a whole slew of people who still feel that they aren't part of the game. We are a mixed society – that's what Britain has been for so long. We just need to be more positive rather than negative, and showcase it. We are now at a crossroads." [7]

Additionally, she is the former mentor of rap artist and media entrepreneur Kelvyn Colt. [20] [21] [22]

In July 2017, Casely-Hayford was named the new Chancellor of Coventry University, the first woman to hold the position. [20] [23] [24] [25] She was appointed for a second term in 2020. [26] [27]

In February 2018, she was announced as the new chair of the board of Shakespeare's Globe, taking over the appointment from Michael Bichard. [28] [29] [30] [31] [32]

Awards and recognition

In 2014, she was voted Black British Business Person of the Year at the Black British Business Awards (BBBA) founded by Melanie Eusebe. [7]

In 2016, Casely-Hayford was awarded an honorary doctorate by Middlesex University. [8]

She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2018 Birthday Honours, for charitable services in the UK and abroad. [33]

In October 2019, it was announced that Casely-Hayford would be featured in the 2020 Powerlist as one of the 100 most influential black people in the United Kingdom. [34] [35] The following year, Casely-Hayford was included in the 2021 edition of the Powerlist, for her contributions to the education sector. [36]

In 2020, she was elected an Honorary Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford. [37]

In 2021, Casely-Hayford was elected a Master of the Bench at Gray's Inn. [38]

She was again named on the Powerlist in 2022, listed in the "Public, Third Sector & Education" category. [39]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victor Adebowale, Baron Adebowale</span> British politician (born 1962)

Victor Olufemi Adebowale, Baron Adebowale, is the former Chief Executive of the social care enterprise Turning Point, current Chair of the NHS Confederation and was one of the first individuals to become a People's Peer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kanya King</span> British entrepreneur

Kanya King,, is a British entrepreneur who founded the MOBO Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Casely-Hayford</span> British fashion designer (1956–2010)

Joseph Ephraim Casely-Hayford was a British fashion designer. Beginning in the mid-1980s he established an international reputation as one of the UK's most respected and consistently relevant designers of men's and womenswear clothing. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to the fashion industry, in the 2007 Birthday Honours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gus Casely-Hayford</span> Arts administrator

Augustus Lavinus Casely-Hayford is a British curator, cultural historian, broadcaster and lecturer with ancestral Ghanaian roots in the Casely-Hayford family.

Sir John Leopold Egan is a British industrialist, associated with businesses in the automotive, airports, construction and water industries. He was chief executive and chairman of Jaguar Cars from 1980 to 1990 and chairman of Jaguar plc from 1985 to 1990, and then served as chief executive of BAA from 1990 to 1999. He is also notable for chairing the construction industry task force that produced the 1998 Egan Report and the follow-up report, Accelerating Change, in 2002. During 2004, undertook the Egan Review of Skills for Sustainable Communities for the Blair Government. In 2004, after completing two years as president of the Confederation of British Industry, he was appointed chairman of Severn Trent.

Dame Elan Closs Stephens is a Welsh academic who has been a non-executive director of the BBC Board since 2017, and Chair of the BBC since 27 June 2023. Specialising in cultural and broadcasting policy, she is also Electoral Commissioner for Wales and Pro-Chancellor of Aberystwyth University. She also chairs the UNESCO International Prize for the Creative Economy panel.

Sonita Alleyne, is the Barbados-born British co-founder and former CEO of Somethin’ Else, a cross-platform media production company. Alleyne is a member of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and Master of Jesus College, Cambridge.

Chinyere Adah "Chi-Chi" Nwanoku is a British double bassist and professor of Historical Double Bass Studies at the Royal Academy of Music. Nwanoku was a founder member and principal bassist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, a position she held for 30 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cynthia Pine</span> British Dentistry educator (born 1953)

Professor Cynthia Pine CBE is a British Dentistry educator at the London School of Dentistry. In 2003, she became the first woman appointed to head a dentistry school in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heather Melville</span> Banker

Heather Patricia Melville is a British banker, the Senior Managing Director of Teneo and Chancellor of the University of York, UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Ilube</span> British entrepreneur

Thomas Segun Ilube is a British entrepreneur and educational philanthropist and chair of the Rugby Football Union making him the first black chair of a major sport in England. He was ranked first in the Powerlist 2017, an annual listing of the UK's 100 most powerful people with African or Afro-Caribbean heritage.

Tamara Howe is a British television production manager and executive with more than 30 years' experience, including working at London Weekend Television, before joining BBC TV, where she held various posts, culminating with the role of Controller of Business, Comedy & Entertainment, Television. She featured in Powerlist 2013: Britain's Most Influential Black People, described as "one of the most influential people at the BBC".

Casely-Hayford is an English language patronymic surname that is native to Ghana. It is most commonly borne by the Casely-Hayford family, descendants of the 19th century Euro-Fante and Pan-Africanist, J. E. Casely-Hayford of Cape Coast. The family is one of Ghana's most prominent families, and in recent times, its members have also risen to positions of influence in the Black British elite. In 2008, the Casely-Hayfords were named on "The Black Powerlist" as the most influential black family in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vanessa Kingori</span> Kenyan-born writer, publisher of GQ magazine

Vanessa Kingori is chief business officer at Condé Nast Britain and Vogue European business advisor. She is also British Vogue's Publishing Director. Prior to that, Kingori was the publisher of British GQ across all platforms. She has worked for media publishing house Condé Nast UK for over a decade. 

Jacaranda Books is a Black-owned British independent book publishing firm launched in 2012 and known for their effort promoting diversity in United Kingdom's publishing industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nneka Abulokwe</span> British Nigerian tech entrepreneur

Nneka Abulokwe, OBE is a British Nigerian tech and digital governance entrepreneur. She is one of the first Afro-Caribbean professionals in the UK to serve on the board of a leading European digital transformation organization, she is the founder and CEO of MicroMax Consulting. In 2019, she was honoured by Queen Elizabeth II as an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) for services to Business.

The 2019 Powerlist rankings were released in October 2018 and saw Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. included in the list for the first time, and named Ric Lewis as the most influential individual

The 13th annual Powerlist was judged by a panel chaired by Dame Linda Dobbs and published in October 2019; sponsored by J.P. Morgan & Co., pwc, linklaters and The Executive Leadership Council.

The 14th annual Powerlist, which names the 100 most influential people of African or African Caribbean heritage in the United Kingdom, was judged by an independent panel and published in November 2020, sponsored by JP Morgan & Co, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Linklaters, Refinitiv, Herman Miller, Facebook and The Executive Leadership Council. The 2021 Powerlist came in a year in which public debate on racial injustice had increased, with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and global protests against police brutality. Therefore, chief executive Michael Eboda decided that the 14th Powerlist would honour those who have used their voice to advocate against racial injustice. Furthermore, the rankings highlighted the work of healthcare professionals during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which also resulted in the awards being held virtually on 17 November 2020, hosted by Kwame Kwei-Armah.

References

  1. 1 2 "Casely-Hayford, Margaret Henrietta Augusta", Who's Who 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 "Margaret Casely-Hayford", BLD, April 2010.
  3. ↑ "Chancellors of Coventry University", Coventry University.
  4. ↑ "About Us | Governance", Shakespeare's Globe.
  5. ↑ Margaret Casely-Hayford website.
  6. 1 2 3 Pears, Elizabeth (24 February 2012). "Women Making A Mark". The Voice .
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Currie, Lysanne (1 October 2015). "Margaret Casely-Hayford: The ActionAid UK chair talks talent, diversity and building a great company culture". The Director.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Margaret Casely-Hayford awarded an Honorary Degree", Middlesex University UniHub, 13 July 2016.
  9. ↑ Casely-Hayford, Margaret (8 March 2018). "Opinion: Equality at the heart of co-operation… It's in our DNA"". Co-Op News.
  10. ↑ Oatts, Joanne (19 September 2007). "Shed productions buys Twenty Twenty". Digital Spy .
  11. ↑ "Black History Month Talk & 3rd Anniversary Party", Conway Hall, 17 October 2015.
  12. ↑ Grove, Jack (28 September 2017). "Interview with Margaret Casely-Hayford". Times Higher Education .
  13. ↑ Casely-Hayford, Margaret (11 December 1995). Practical planning : permission and the application. FT Law & Tax. ISBN   978-0752000633.
  14. ↑ "About Margaret", Margaret Casely-Hayford website.
  15. 1 2 "106 seconds with… Margaret Casely-Hayford, Chair, Action Aid UK", 6th Sense, 10 August 2015.
  16. 1 2 "Board and directors", Co-op.
  17. ↑ "About", The Radcliffe Trust.
  18. ↑ Onwuemezi, Natasha (26 June 2017). "Casely-Hayford to chair Carnegie and Greenaway Medals diversity review". The Bookseller .
  19. ↑ "'Get all young Britons reading to unlock potential, productivity and economic growth'" (press release), CILIP, 7 December 2017.
  20. 1 2 "Margaret Casely-Hayford named new Chancellor of Coventry University", Coventry University, 17 July 2017.
  21. ↑ "Kelvyn Colt - Narcotic". Music video directed by Simon Frederick, produced by Margaret Casely-Hayford.
  22. ↑ Wilson, Lara (20 November 2016). "10 Minutes with MND Margaret Casely-Hayford: Managing a rapper will help in my role as Member Nominated Director". Co-op.
  23. ↑ "New Coventry University chancellor is black female trailblazer Margaret Casely-Hayford", Coventry Observer , 17 July 2017.
  24. ↑ "Inspirational speakers secured for major business event in Warwickshire" Archived 1 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine , Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, 2017.
  25. ↑ "Groundbreaker Becomes First Woman Chancellor At Coventry University – Another first for the acclaimed lawyer Margaret Casely-Hayford", The Voice, 9 August 2017.
  26. ↑ "Coventry Uni re-appoints Dr Margaret Casely-Hayford CBE as Chancellor". DiversityQ. 17 November 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  27. ↑ "Coventry University Chancellor appointed to second term". Coventry University. 17 November 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  28. ↑ Snow, Georgia (6 February 2018). "Margaret Casely-Hayford announced as chair of Shakespeare's Globe". The Stage .
  29. ↑ "Margaret Casely-Hayford Appointed As Chair Of Shakespeare's Globe", Broadway World, 6 February 2018.
  30. ↑ Press Association, "Margaret Casely-Hayford appointed chairwoman of Shakespeare’s Globe", Evening Express, Aberdeen Journals, 6 February 2018.
  31. ↑ "Margaret Casely-Hayford appointed as Chair of Shakespeare’s Globe", Shakespeare's Globe Blog, 6 February 2018.
  32. ↑ White, Nadine (15 February 2018). "Margaret Casely-Hayford Named Chair Of Shakespeare's Globe". The Voice.
  33. ↑ "Margaret CASELY-HAYFORD".
  34. ↑ Mills, Kelly-Ann (25 October 2019). "Raheem Sterling joins Meghan and Stormzy in top 100 most influential black Brits". Mirror. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  35. ↑ Busby, Mattha (25 October 2019). "Meghan and Stormzy named among most influential black people in UK". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  36. ↑ Lavender, Jane (17 November 2020). "Lewis Hamilton ends incredible year top of influential Black Powerlist 2021". mirror. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  37. ↑ "Margaret Casely-Hayford CBE | Honorary Fellow". Somerville University of Oxford. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  38. ↑ "New Masters of the Bench". The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn. 3 December 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  39. ↑ Motune, Vic (15 October 2021). "Microsoft tech pioneer Jacky Wright tops list of most powerful black Britons". The Voice .
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.