Virginia Beardshaw, Lady Cahn

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(born June 1952) is the Chair of the Annual Fund at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She was Chief Executive of the children's communication charity I CAN for 10 years, spanning from 2005 to 2015, a founder Fellow of the King's Fund Institute and a Governor of the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. Beardshaw was appointed a

in the

2015 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2015 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

list, for services to children with special needs and disabilities.

Career

After working as a Health Services Researcher at Oxford University, Beardshaw became a founder Fellow for the Kings Fund Institute, writing the first Commission report after the new Royal Charter body was founded in 2009. She then worked for the NHS, where her final post was Director of Modernisation for London. Returning to the voluntary sector, she became the British Red Cross's Director of UK Services. She has been vice-chair of ACEVO.

Personal life

She was educated at

The Mount School, York , motto_translation = Faithfulness in small things , established = 1785 , closed = , type = Independent day and boarding school , religious_affiliation = Religious Society of Fr ...

. She is married to Sir

Andrew Cahn Sir Andrew Thomas Cahn, KCMG (born 1 April 1951) is a non-executive director of Nomura, chair of the board of governors of Birkbeck, University of London, and a former senior civil servant. Career In January 2011, Cahn stepped down after five ...

, the Vice Chairman for Public Policy at Nomura, with whom she has one daughter and two sons.

References

Living people Alumni of the London School of Economics Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English chief executives Women chief executives 1952 births Date of birth missing (living people) {{England-business-bio-stub