Margaret Ford, Baroness Ford

Last updated

The Baroness Ford
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
11 July 2006
Life Peerage
Personal details
Born
Margaret Anne Ford

(1957-12-16) 16 December 1957 (age 67)
Nationality British
Political party
Spouse(s)(1) Christopher Derek Ford;
(2) David Arthur Bolger
Children2
Alma mater University of Glasgow (MA (Hons) MPhil)

Margaret Anne Ford, Baroness Ford (born 16 December 1957) is a Scottish business woman and non-aligned British peer. She was appointed by Tony Blair as a Labour Peer in 2006, but resigned the Labour Whip in 2009 and now sits as a Crossbencher. She is Chair of London Gatwick Airport and Chair of The Centre for Public Interest Audit.

Contents

Life

Ford was born in Saltcoats, Ayrshire, in December 1957. The daughter of Edward and Susan Garland, she received education at St Michael's Academy in Kilwinning and Glasgow University. She graduated MA (Hons) in 1979 and M.Phil in 1984.

She married Christopher Derek Ford in 1982, with whom she had two children, Michael and Katharine. After a divorce in 1990, she married David Arthur Bolger later that same year.

Career

Ford is Chair of London Gatwick Airport, [1] and in July 2024 she was announced as the inaugural Chair of the Centre for Public Interest Audit, a thinktank dedicated to audit quality research. [2]

She is the former Chair of NewRiver REIT, STV PLC, of Grainger plc, of May Gurney plc, and of Barchester Healthcare. Grainger was the first Company listed on the LSE which had an all female leadership team with Ford appointing women to the positions of CEO, CFO and SID.

She has also chaired the Buckingham Palace Reservicing Challenge Board, Lothian Health Board, English Partnerships (now Homes England) and the Olympic Park Legacy Company (now LLDC). In 2011, she was included in the Times newspaper Sport Power 100, entering at number 26. [3] In 2012 she was controversially replaced as chairman of the LLDC by Daniel Moylan, a Conservative. [4]

She has served as a non executive Director of the Scottish Prison Service, of Ofgem, Thus plc, Serco plc, Segro plc, and Taylor Wimpey plc.

Ford was also the inaugural Chair of Deloitte UK’s Audit Governance Board, and was an Independent Non-Executive Member of the Deloitte UK Oversight Board, Deloitte North and South Europe Board, and the Deloitte Global Independent Non-Executive Advisory Council. She stepped down from these positions on 31 October 2023 to join Gatwick Airport as its Chair. [5]

Her main executive roles were at BIFU, Price Waterhouse, Scottish Homes, and as the founding CEO of Eglinton Management Centre. She sold Eglinton in 2000 and in the same year, set up Good Practice, the online publisher (which was sold to Emerald Publishing in 2015). Her last executive role was at Royal Bank of Canada as Managing Director (DCM) in the Social infrastructure Division.

In September 2023, she was announced as the new Chair of London Gatwick Airport. [6]

Honours

Ford was raised to the Peerage as Baroness Ford, of Cunninghame in North Ayrshire on 11 July 2006. [7] She was appointed as an honorary member of the RICS in 2009. In 2015 she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. [8] She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to business and sport in 2019, and holds Honorary degrees from Napier University and the University of Stirling. Ford was appointed a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order in the 2025 New Year Honours. [9]

Voluntary

Ford has been Honorary President of the charity Epilepsy Action [10] since 2008, a Trustee of the British Olympic Association and a Councillor of the LTA. She was formerly a Chair of the STV Children's Appeal and Trustee and Chair of the Tennis Foundation, prior to its merger with the LTA in 2019.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Young, Baroness Young of Old Scone</span> BBC Governor, Peer and Chancellor of Cranfield University (born 1948)

Barbara Scott Young, Baroness Young of Old Scone, is a Scottish Labour member of the House of Lords. She was created a life peer on 4 November 1997 as Baroness Young of Old Scone, of Old Scone in Perth and Kinross.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Usha Prashar, Baroness Prashar</span> British politician

Usha Prashar, Baroness Prashar is a British politician and a crossbench member of the House of Lords. Since the 1970s, she has served as a director or chair of a variety of public and private sector organisations. She became the first chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission upon its creation in April 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katherine Grainger</span> Scottish rower (born 1975)

Dame Katherine Jane Grainger is a Scottish former rower and current Chair of UK Sport. She is a 2012 Summer Olympics gold medallist, four-time Olympic silver medallist and six-time World Champion for Great Britain. She served as Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University between 2015 and 2020 and is currently Chancellor of the University of Glasgow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Smith, Baron Smith of Kelvin</span> British businessman (born 1944)

Robert Haldane Smith, Baron Smith of Kelvin, is a British businessman and former Governor of the British Broadcasting Corporation. Smith was knighted in 1999, appointed to the House of Lords as an independent crossbench peer in 2008, and appointed Knight of the Thistle in the 2014 New Year Honours. He was also appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kerelaw Castle</span> Ruin castle in Scotland

Kerelaw Castle is a castle ruin. It is situated on the coast of North Ayrshire, Scotland in the town of Stevenston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Prosser, Baroness Prosser</span> British politician (born 1937)

Margaret Theresa Prosser, Baroness Prosser, is a Labour life peer and former trade unionist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montgreenan</span>

Montgreenan is an estate in North Ayrshire, Parish of Kilwinning, Scotland. The Lugton Water runs through the policies and farmland of Montgreenan. Nearby are the hamlets of Torranyard and Auchentiber.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barony of Ladyland</span> Former barony in North Ayrshire, Scotland

The Barony of Ladyland was in the old feudal Baillerie of Cunninghame, near Kilbirnie in what is now North Ayrshire, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skelmorlie Castle</span> Castle in North Ayrshire, Scotland, UK

Skelmorlie Castle stands on the eastern shore of the Firth of Clyde, Scotland, at the north-western corner of the county of Ayrshire. The structure dates from 1502, and was formerly the seat and stronghold of the Montgomery Clan. The modern village of Skelmorlie lies to the north of the castle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castle and Barony of Robertland</span> Place in East Ayrshire, Scotland

The Castle and Barony of Robertland is located near Stewarton, off the B769 road, in the old district of Cunninghame, Parish of Stewarton, and now part of East Ayrshire, Scotland.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lands of Lainshaw</span> The Lands Of Lainshaw Have Been In Place For Many Years And Was Used In The War.

The Lands of Lainshaw lie in Strathannick and were part of the Lordship of Stewarton, in East Ayrshire, Scotland. Lainshaw House is a category B listed mansion, lying in a prominent position above the Annick Water and its holm in the Parish of Stewarton, Scotland. Part of the much older Lainshaw Castle is contained within the several later building phases of the present day Lainshaw House. The names 'Langshaw' or 'Langschaw' were used in historic times. Law Mount near the High and Laigh Castleton farms has been suggested as the site of the original castle, granted in the 12th century to Godfrey de Ross by Hugo de Morville.

Sir John Calman Shaw was a Scottish businessman, chairman of the board of directors and Governor of the Bank of Scotland from 1999–2001, deputy governor from 1991–1999 and a non-executive director from 1990–2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruby McGregor-Smith</span> British business executive and politician

Ruby McGregor-Smith, Baroness McGregor-Smith,, is a British business executive and politician. McGregor-Smith was the former CEO of Mitie Group PLC, a UK facilities management business, from 2007 to 2016. She was nominated as a Conservative life peer in August 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucy Neville-Rolfe</span> British businesswoman and peer (born 1953)

Lucy Jeanne Neville-Rolfe, Baroness Neville-Rolfe is a British businesswoman and politician who served as Minister of State at the Cabinet Office from September 2022 to July 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, she served in ministerial positions under prime ministers David Cameron, Theresa May, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak. In December 2021, she was appointed by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to lead the statutory review into the state pension age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rona Fairhead, Baroness Fairhead</span>

Rona Alison Fairhead, Baroness Fairhead,, is a life peer and businesswoman. She served as a minister of state at the Department for International Trade from 2017 to 2019. Prior to that, she was the last chairman of the BBC Trust before its abolition and the first woman to hold the post.

The lands of Broomlands or Broumlands formed a small country estate about a mile to the east of Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland situated on the east bank of the Annick Water in the Parishes of Dreghorn and Irvine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Hugh Montgomerie</span>

The Murder of Hugh Montgomerie, 4th Earl of Eglinton at the Annick Ford in Stewarton, East Ayrshire, Scotland, took place in 1586 as a consequence of a long running feud between the Montgomeries, Earls of Eglinton and the Cunninghames, Earls of Glencairn, families who were competing for power and influence locally and nationally. The significant repercussions of this act were felt throughout the county of Ayrshire and beyond. The spelling 'Montgomerie' is used throughout for both the family and Montgomery for the clan and clan and district names 'Cunninghame' in the same fashion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Moylan, Baron Moylan</span> British politician (born 1956)

Daniel Michael Gerald Moylan, Baron Moylan is an English Conservative politician and a member of the House of Lords.

George Robertson (c.1750–1832) was a Scottish topographical, agricultural and genealogical writer.

References

  1. "Margaret Ford announced as new Gatwick Chair".
  2. "CPIA Press Release" (PDF).
  3. "The Times & The Sunday Times" . Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  4. Adrian Warner, New legacy chief "shatters" political consensus from BBC dated May 2012, accessed 8 November 2015
  5. "Register of Interests".
  6. "Baroness Ford appointed as new chair of London Gatwick". Gatwick Airport. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  7. "Crown Office". The London Gazette. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  8. "Baroness Margaret Ford of Cunninghame FRSE - The Royal Society of Edinburgh". The Royal Society of Edinburgh. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  9. "No. 64607". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2024. p. N4.
  10. "Debate on epilepsy in the House of Lords". Epilepsy Action website. Epilepsy Action. 2 December 2010. Retrieved 1 May 2022.