Shriti Vadera, Baroness Vadera

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The Right Honourable

The Baroness Vadera

PC
Shriti Vadera, Baroness Vadera.jpg
Chair of Prudential plc
1 January 2021 -
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
In office
10 June 2009 – 25 September 2009
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Competitiveness and Small Business[1]
In office
25 January 2008 – 9 June 2009
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
Preceded byStephen Timms
Succeeded byPat McFadden
Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office
In office
25 January 2008 – 25 September 2009
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
Preceded byPhil Hope
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
11 July 2007
Life peerage
Personal details
Born
Shriti Vadera

(1962-06-23) 23 June 1962 (age 59)
Uganda
Political partyLabour
Alma materSomerville College, Oxford
OccupationPolitician
ProfessionBanker

Shriti Vadera, Baroness Vadera, PC (born 23 June 1962) is a Ugandan born British investment banker and has been Chair of Prudential plc, the British multinational insurer, since January 2021, having joined the Board in May 2020. Her appointment as Prudential chair was hailed in February 2020 by the Daily Mail’s Ruth Sunderland. She wrote:

“Shriti Vadera is an inspired choice to chair the Prudential. This is not merely because she is female and of Asian origin, so she therefore ticks the 'diversity' boxes. Regardless of gender or ethnicity, which to her credit she has never played upon, she is one of the best operators in the City. Like many women of her generation, who started out in the Eighties when 'woke' was what happened when you got up in the morning, she needed to be much better than the men to reach the top.”

On 28 April 2021 Shriti Vadera was appointed Chair of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Shriti is the first woman and person of colour to chair the RSC.[2][3]

Until September 2009, she was a government minister jointly for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Cabinet Office. She was chairwoman of Santander UK between March 2015 and October 2020, becoming the first woman to head a major British bank.

Early life[]

She was born in Uganda[4] in 1962 to Indian Gujarati parents.[5][6]

She is from a family who owned a small tea plantation but fled to India in 1972 following the Ugandan government's expulsion of Ugandan Asians, and then later to the UK.[7] She was educated at Northwood College before taking a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Somerville College, Oxford.[5]

Private sector career[]

For over 14 years Vadera was employed at investment bank UBS Warburg, where her work included advising governments of developing countries, and debt relief and restructuring. She also played a role in the partial privatisation of South African Telecom.[7][8]

Government adviser and minister[]

Shriti Vadera was on the Council of Economic Advisers at the UK Treasury from 1999 to 2007, where she led on policy for business, competition innovation, productivity and international finance and development issues and the management of the Government’s shareholdings, asset sales and public private partnerships for infrastructure.[9]

Following his appointment as Prime Minister in June 2007, Gordon Brown appointed her as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for International Development.[10] As she was not a member of either of the Houses of Parliament, she was created a life peer on 11 July 2007 as Baroness Vadera, of Holland Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.[11] The Sunday Times reported that the Cabinet Secretary "flatly refus[ed] to allow her to cross the threshold of No 10 as policy enforcer" and "no Permanent Secretary could stand her" – although the Cabinet Secretary denied making these comments.[12]

Following criticism of her working style Stephen Alambritis, of the Federation of Small Businesses (also a Merton Labour councillor)[13] said: “If the Civil Service is complaining about her, then probably more ministers should be like her; she gets things done.” [14]

After six months as a Minister in International Development, she was moved to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (now the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills). In October 2008, she also became a Parliamentary Secretary in the Cabinet Office.

On 14 January 2009 she gave an interview on ITV's Lunchtime News, which concluded:

Alastair Stewart: "Final and briefest thought possible – you're a former banker and business person yourself and now a minister – when will we see the green shoots of recovery?
Baroness Vadera: "Well, it's a very uncertain world right now globally but I wouldn't want to be the one predicting it. I am seeing a few green shoots but it's a little bit too early to say exactly how they'll grow."[15]

Her reply generated commentary from a number of sources, including shadow chancellor George Osborne and former chancellor Norman Lamont, who first used the phrase "green shoots" in 1991. Lamont said: "It is extremely premature to use a phrase like that."[15]

Later that year London's Evening Standard reported that Vadera was instrumental in the creation of an unprecedented banking rescue package.[16] On 24 September 2009, it was announced that she would be stepping down as minister to take up a new role advising the G20.[17]

Shriti Vadera has been on a leave of absence from the House of Lords since December 2011.[18]

Post-government career[]

In April 2010, the Financial Times reported that Vadera had taken up a consultancy to give strategic advice in restructuring Dubai World's US$26 billion debt.[19] In July, the Daily Telegraph reported Vadera had become consultant to Singaporean investment company Temasek.[20]

"The reason people like Shriti are getting these offers is because there are very few people who understand the international finance world and the geopolitical world at a time when the financial world clearly has some issues with the political world." said Martin Armstrong of recruitment consultants Somerton Partners.[20]

In December 2010, she was appointed to the Boards of BHP Billiton and AstraZeneca as a non-executive director.[21][22] Shriti Vadera was on the Astra Zeneca Board until December 2018. She stepped down from the BHP Biliton Board in October 2020.[23]

In December 2014, it was announced that she would become Non-Executive Chairman of Santander UK, replacing Terence Burns. She joined the board in January 2015 and succeeded Burns on 30 March 2015[24] and stepped down in October 2020. [25]

In 2016, she was chosen as one of BBC's 100 Women[26]

References[]

  1. ^ Competitiveness, Deregulation and British Business Council (2008)
  2. ^ "RSC appoints first woman and person of colour as chair". The Guardian. 28 April 2021.
  3. ^ "Shriti Vadera becomes first female and person of colour to lead RSC board". The Stage. 28 April 2021.
  4. ^ "Shriti Vadera: A profile of the Business Minister nicknamed 'Shriti the Shriek'". The Telegraph. 15 January 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Helm, Toby; Beckford, Martin (3 November 2007). "Profile: Shriti Vadera". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 28 July 2009.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  6. ^ Dutt, Vijay; Canton, Naomi (24 June 2007). "Gujarati tipped for Brown's inner circle". Hindustan Times.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b Teather, David (26 July 2008). "Saturday Interview: Shriti Vadera". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 28 July 2009.
  8. ^ Sparrow, Andrew (15 January 2009). "Profile: Shriti Vadera". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  9. ^ "Vadera Profile: From Banker to Baroness". The Wall Street Journal. London. 24 September 2009.
  10. ^ "Brown unveils new faces". Prime Minister's Office. 29 June 2007. Archived from the original on 1 July 2007. Retrieved 28 July 2009.
  11. ^ "No. 58392". The London Gazette. 16 July 2007. p. 10219.
  12. ^ Jenkins, Simon (8 July 2007). "Brown's brain and his hand are not always connected". The Times. London. Retrieved 28 July 2009.
  13. ^ "Local Elections Archive Project — Ravensbury Ward". www.andrewteale.me.uk. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  14. ^ Webster, Philip (25 September 2009). "Baroness Vadera Shriti the Shriek has a temper but gets things done". The Times. London.
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b "'Green shoots' remarks defended". BBC News Online. 14 January 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2009.
  16. ^ "How I helped rescue Britain from brink of bank disaster | News". Thisislondon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 19 September 2012. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  17. ^ "UK | UK Politics | Vadera stepping down as minister". BBC News. 24 September 2009. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  18. ^ "Baroness Vadera - UK Parliament". Parliament.uk. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  19. ^ "Shriti Vadera's new consultancy role in Dubai | Westminster blog | Jim Pickard and Kiran Stacey share their views on the UK's political scene for the Financial Times – FT.com". Blogs.ft.com. 24 May 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  20. ^ Jump up to: a b Tyler, Richard (4 July 2010). "Baroness Vadera advises Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek". Telegraph. London. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  21. ^ "BHP Billiton – Home". Bhp.com.au. Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  22. ^ "PLC appoints new Non-Executive Director". AstraZeneca. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  23. ^ "Appointment of Senior Independent Director". 13 October 2020.
  24. ^ Morris, Stephen (12 December 2014). "Santander U.K. Names Shriti Vadera Chairman Replacing Burns". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  25. ^ "SANTANDER UK GROUP HOLDINGS PLC - BOARD CHANGE". Investegate. 30 January 2020.
  26. ^ 2016, BBC, Retrieved 26 November 2016

External links[]


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