Financier
Author & Founder, 30% Club
Non-Executive Director, St James's Place
Cambridge affiliations
- Honorary Doctorate in Law (2016)
- MA Philosophy, Fitzwilliam College (1984)
Professional history
Helena is well-known for her work on gender equality. In 2010, she founded the 30% Club, a business-led campaign for gender-balanced boards. Since then, the representation of women on FTSE350 boards has risen from less than ten to over 30 per cent. There are now 14 30% Clubs throughout the world.
A fixed income fund manager by background, Helena was CEO of Newton Investment Management for 15 years, taking its assets under management from £20bn to £50bn. While at Newton she led the firm's sponsorship of the Women’s Boat Race, culminating in full equality with the men's event in 2015. Helena then moved to Legal & General, the UK's first £1trn fund management firm, to lead its personal investing business, stepping down in 2019. Helena joined St James's Place as a non-executive director in January 2020 and continues to chair the investment industry's Diversity Project and Business in the Community's Gender Equality campaign.
Helena has been named one of Fortune magazine's World's 50 Greatest Leaders, the Financial Times' 2017 'Person of the Year' and recognised for her 'Outstanding Contribution to Business' at Lloyds Bank 2018 National Business Awards. She was appointed a Dame in the Queen's 2017 Birthday Honours list.
Helena is a Philosophy graduate. Her husband Richard is a stay-at-home father and they have nine children, six girls and three boys aged from 10 to 27 and one grandson. Her first book A Good Time to be a Girl was named one of Forbes' five most empowering books for women in 2018.
