Margaret Anne Ford, Baroness Ford OBE FRSE (born 16 December 1957) is a Scottish business woman and non-aligned

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

peer. She was appointed by

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

as a Labour Peer in 2006, but resigned the Labour Whip in 2009 and now sits as a Crossbencher. She is Chair of New River REIT plc and Chair of Deloitte UK Audit Governance Board.

Life

Ford was born in Saltcoats, Ayrshire, in December 1957. The daughter of Edward and Susan Garland, she was educated at St Michael's Academy in Kilwinning and

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. 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

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. After a divorce in 1990, she married David Arthur Bolger later that same year.

Career

Ford is Chair of New River REIT plc and chairs the Buckingham Palace Reservicing Challenge Board. Ford is the inaugural Chair of Deloitte UK’s Audit Governance Board, and is a Director of Deloitte UK Oversight Board, Deloitte North/South Europe Board, and a Member of Deloitte Global Advisory Board. She is the former Chair of STV PLC, of

Grainger plc Grainger plc is a British-based residential property business. It is headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History The business was established by the Dickinson family in 1912 as the ''Grainger Trust'' ...

, of May Gurney plc, and of Barchester Healthcare. Grainger was the first Company listed on the

LSE LSE may refer to: Computing * LSE (programming language), a computer programming language * LSE, Latent sector error, a media assessment measure related to the hard disk drive storage technology * Language-Sensitive Editor, a text editor used ...

which had an all female leadership team with Ford appointing women to the positions of CEO, CFO and SID. She has also chaired 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. In 2012 she was controversially replaced as chairman of the LLDC by

Daniel Moylan Daniel Michael Gerald Moylan, Baron Moylan (born 1 March 1956) is an English Conservative politician and a member of the House of Lords, holding dual British and Irish citizenship. Before being created Baron Moylan in September 2020, he had ...

, a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

. She has served as a non executive Director of the

Scottish Prison Service The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) is an executive agency of the Scottish Government tasked with managing prisons and Young Offender Institutions. The Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, currently Teresa Medhurst, is responsible f ...

, of

Ofgem , type = Non-ministerial government department , nativename = , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = Ofgem logo.svg , logo_width = 124px , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = , picture_widt ...

, Thus plc, Serco plc, Segro plc, and Taylor Wimpey plc. 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.

Honours

Ford was raised to the Peerage as Baroness Ford, of Cunninghame in North Ayrshire on 11 July 2006. She was appointed as an honorary member of the

RICS The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is a global professional body for surveyors, founded in London in 1868. It works at a cross-governmental level, and aims to promote and enforce the highest international standards in the val ...

in 2009. In 2015 she was elected as a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This socie ...

. She was awarded an OBE for services to business and sport in 2019, and holds Honorary degrees from

Napier University , mottoeng = Without knowledge, everything is in vain , established = 1992 – granted University status 1964 – Napier Technical College , type = Public , academic_staff = 802 , administrative_staff = 562 , chancellor = Will Whitehorn , ...

and the

University of Stirling The University of Stirling (, gd, Oilthigh Shruighlea (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built ...

Voluntary

Ford has been Honorary President of the charity Epilepsy Action since 2008, a Trustee of the

British Olympic Association The British Olympic Association (BOA) is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It is responsible for organising and overseeing the participation of athletes from the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team, at both ...

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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Margaret Anne 1957 births Living people Labour Party (UK) life peers Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Saltcoats Scottish politicians Scottish businesspeople People educated at St Michaels Academy Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Scottish television executives Alumni of the University of Glasgow Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh