Irene Mitchell Dorner (born 5 December 1954) was the former president, CEO and managing director of

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tri ...

North America Holdings Inc. and HSBC USA. In 2014, she retired from her 32-year career at HSBC. A qualified

barrister at law A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and giv ...

, during her career Dorner worked in a range of roles in the United Kingdom and internationally. She was the first woman CEO of HSBC, Malaysia. As well as being chairman of

Control Risks Control Risks is a global risk and strategic consulting firm specializing in political, security and integrity risk. History Control Risks was formed in 1975, as a professional adviser to the insurance industry. A subsidiary of insurance broke ...

, she is a non-executive director of Rolls-Royce and

AXA Axa S.A. (styled as ''AXA'' or GIG in the Middle East) is a French multinational insurance company. The head office is in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. It also provides investment management and other financial services. The Ax ...

Education and career

Dorner attended

St Anne's College, Oxford St Anne's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. It has some 450 undergraduate and 200 ...

and received an MA in Jurisprudence in 1973. She was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

at Middle Temple in 1977. She is an Honorary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. Dorner began her career in 1982 as an in-house lawyer at the merchant banking arm of Midland Bank, which was later acquired by HSBC. At HSBC, she was also the chief operating officer of treasury and capital markets and general manager of marketing and human resources. In 2007, she was appointed deputy chairman and CEO HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad. In 2011, Dorner was appointed to run the US operations of HSBC. At the helm of HSBC during 2013's money laundering scandal, she's said "One of the things that I am trying to get through to our entire bank is I would rather you walked away from a piece of business that has a question mark next to it than do it in order to boost your bottom line. I am looking for sustainability." Dorner retired from HSBC in 2014. In 2012, she was named the Most Powerful Woman in Banking by American Banker. In 2013, she was named as one of the 25 Most Powerful Women On Wall Street by Business Insider. While she is now a vocal advocate for advancing women in business and finance, she recognizes that this advocacy could have begun earlier. “I only realized what was happening when I was 50, because there I was, making my way in the unconscious rules,” Dorner said. “I really do think the next push has got to come from the senior middle-management women who must stand up and be counted on this earlier than I did.” Dorner suffered from ovarian cancer, but after six months of chemotherapy and surgery she became cancer free in 2012. She took over as chairwoman of

Virgin Money UK Virgin Money is a banking and financial services brand operating in the United Kingdom. The Virgin Money brand was founded by Richard Branson in March 1995. It was originally known as Virgin Direct, and pioneered index tracking by launching ...

on 31 March 2018. This appointment created the first all-female leadership team at a major British bank, with Jayne-Anne Gadhia acting as chief executive officer. In July 2019, it was announced Dorner would succeed Kevin Beeston as non-executive chair of Taylor Wimpey from 26 February 2020. Dorner is to step down after the company's April 2023 AGM, and will be replaced by former Land Securities executive Robert Noel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorner, Irene Mitchell 1954 births Living people Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford Members of the Middle Temple Fellows of St Anne's College, Oxford 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesswomen Women business executives