The Right Honourable
The Baroness Vadera
PC
Vadera in 2008
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
In office
10 June 2009 – 25 September 2009
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Competitiveness and Small Business[lower-alpha 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
Life peerage
11 July 2007
Personal details
Born
Shriti Vadera

(1962-06-23) 23 June 1962
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 since January 2021, having joined the board in May 2020. Until September 2009, she was a government minister jointly for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Cabinet Office. She was chair of Santander UK from March 2015 to October 2020, the first woman to head a major British bank.

Early life

Vadera was born in Uganda[1] in 1962 to Indian Gujarati parents.[2][3]

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.[4] She was educated at Northwood College before taking a degree in philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Somerville College, Oxford.[2]

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.[4][5]

Government adviser and minister

Vadera was on the Council of Economic Advisers at HM 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.[6]

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.[7] 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 & Chelsea.[8] The Sunday Times reported that Gus O'Donnell, 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 he later denied making these comments.[9]

Following criticism of her working style Stephen Alambritis, of the Federation of Small Businesses (also a Merton Labour councillor)[10] said: “If the Civil Service is complaining about her, then probably more ministers should be like her; she gets things done.” [11]

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

In 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."[12]

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."[12]

Later that year the Evening Standard reported that Vadera was instrumental in the creation of an unprecedented banking rescue package.[13] On 24 September 2009, it was announced that she would be stepping down as minister to take up a new role advising the G20.[14]

Vadera has been on a leave of absence from the House of Lords since December 2011.[15]

Life after politics

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.[16] In July, the Daily Telegraph reported Vadera had become consultant to Singaporean investment company Temasek.[17]

"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.[17]

In 2019, Vadera was mentioned by British news media as a candidate to succeed Mark Carney as Governor of the Bank of England.[18]

In 2021, Vadera was appointed chair of the Royal Shakespeare Company, the first woman and person of colour in the role.[19][20]

In 2023, the World Bank's president Ajay Banga appointed Vadera as co-chair – alongside Mark Carney – of the Private Sector Investment Lab.[21]

Other activities

Corporate boards

Non-profit organizations

Recognition

In 2016, Vadera was included in that year's list of the BBC's 100 Women.[30]

Notes

  1. ↑ Competitiveness, Deregulation and British Business Council (2008)

References

  1. ↑ "Shriti Vadera: A profile of the Business Minister nicknamed 'Shriti the Shriek'". The Daily Telegraph. 15 January 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  2. 1 2 Helm, Toby; Beckford, Martin (3 November 2007). "Profile: Shriti Vadera". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 28 July 2009.
  3. ↑ Dutt, Vijay; Canton, Naomi (24 June 2007). "Gujarati tipped for Brown's inner circle". Hindustan Times.
  4. 1 2 Teather, David (26 July 2008). "Saturday Interview: Shriti Vadera". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 28 July 2009.
  5. ↑ Sparrow, Andrew (15 January 2009). "Profile: Shriti Vadera". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  6. ↑ "Vadera Profile: From Banker to Baroness". Wall Street Journal. London. 24 September 2009.
  7. ↑ "Brown unveils new faces". Prime Minister's Office. 29 June 2007. Archived from the original on 1 July 2007. Retrieved 28 July 2009.
  8. ↑ "No. 58392". The London Gazette. 16 July 2007. p. 10219.
  9. ↑ Jenkins, Simon (8 July 2007). "Brown's brain and his hand are not always connected". The Times. London. Retrieved 28 July 2009.
  10. ↑ "Local Elections Archive Project — Ravensbury Ward". www.andrewteale.me.uk. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  11. ↑ Webster, Philip (25 September 2009). "Baroness Vadera Shriti the Shriek has a temper but gets things done". The Times. London.
  12. 1 2 "'Green shoots' remarks defended". BBC News. 14 January 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2009.
  13. ↑ "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.
  14. ↑ "UK | UK Politics | Vadera stepping down as minister". BBC News. 24 September 2009. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  15. ↑ "Baroness Vadera - UK Parliament". Parliament.uk. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  16. ↑ "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.
  17. 1 2 Tyler, Richard (4 July 2010). "Baroness Vadera advises Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek". Telegraph. London. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  18. ↑ Chris Giles (24 April 2019), Who will replace Mark Carney as Bank of England governor? Financial Times.
  19. ↑ "RSC appoints first woman and person of colour as chair". The Guardian. 28 April 2021.
  20. ↑ "Shriti Vadera becomes first female and person of colour to lead RSC board". The Stage. 28 April 2021.
  21. ↑ World Bank Group Intensifies Focus on Private Sector, Launches Effort to Scale Investment in Emerging Markets World Bank, press release of 22 June 2023.
  22. ↑ Oliver Ralph (30 January 2020), Shriti Vadera to become next chair of Prudential Financial Times.
  23. ↑ Morris, Stephen (12 December 2014). "Santander U.K. Names Shriti Vadera Chairman Replacing Burns". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  24. ↑ "SANTANDER UK GROUP HOLDINGS PLC - BOARD CHANGE". Investegate. 30 January 2020.
  25. ↑ "BHP Billiton – Home". Bhp.com.au. Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  26. ↑ "Appointment of Senior Independent Director". 13 October 2020.
  27. ↑ "PLC appoints new Non-Executive Director". AstraZeneca. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  28. ↑ Our Governance Chatham House.
  29. ↑ Board Institute of International Finance (IIF).
  30. ↑ 2016, BBC, Retrieved 26 November 2016
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