Iain Anderson, one of the UK’s leading business figures, is named today as the new chair of the John Smith Centre.
He takes over from Baroness Smith of Cluny who is stepping down following her recent appointment as Advocate General for Scotland.
And the Centre also welcomes Fiona Hill, the former chief of staff to Prime Minister Theresa May, to the board.
Mr Anderson is the founding partner and executive chairman of H/Advisors Cicero and brings over 30 years’ experience as a political advisor, business journalist and board level counsel for some of the world’s leading business and not for profit organisations.
Originally from Aberdeen, his passion for public debate began at school and has continued to regular recent appearances on BBC’s Question Time programme.
The UK Government’s first ever LGBTQ+ business champion, he was recently appointed a non-executive director at the Department for Business and Trade and prior to last year’s election he led an independent review for the Labour Party on how industry and government can work better together.
Mr Anderson said today:
“The John Smith Centre has never been more important. It seeks to empower and inspire new, diverse voices to get involved in politics. Over the last decade under our wonderful outgoing chair Baroness Smith of Cluny it has built an outstanding programme of work. I’m excited to lead the Board as we develop innovative programmes with our focus on the next generation of political leaders.”
Based at the University of Glasgow, the John Smith Centre exists to inspire and encourage young people to get involved in politics and public life. A non-partisan organisation, it runs internships, campaigns, events and research to further its ambitions.
Existing board members include Baroness Elizabeth Smith of Gilmorehill, former cabinet ministers Ed Balls and Michael Gove, and ex-SNP MP Stuart MacDonald. They are joined by Ms Hill today who brings a wealth of experience from a career in journalism and politics which culminated in her becoming the first female Chief of Staff to the UK Prime Minister.
She is now CEO of Marsham Street Consultants offering relationship management to the business world and is also the founder of the annual Future Resilience Forum, an international security conference.
She said today:
“John Smith was the kind of internationalist politician that today is sorely needed in this multipolar, changing world. He would have been a voice of reason during a time of division. It is with that in mind that it’s an honour to join an entity with his name attached and his spirit embodied.”
Baroness Smith of Cluny – who remains on the Board – added:
“Creating the John Smith Centre along with my fellow founding members has been one of my proudest achievements. We now have an incredible alumni from our development work and programmes, two of whom have joined us as board members. They and the many other young people we inspire with our positive case about politics is a wonderful legacy to the extraordinary conviction politician my father was.”
Iain Anderson
Iain Anderson is the founding partner and executive chairman of H/Advisors Cicero and brings over 30 years’ experience as a political advisor, business journalist and board level counsel for some of the world’s leading business and not for profit organisations.
Originally from Aberdeen where he had a passion for public debate while at school, Iain has recently been appointed a non-executive director at the Department for Business and Trade.
Prior to last year’s election he led an independent review for the Labour Party on how industry and government can work better together. He was also the UK Government’s first ever LGBTQ+ business champion. He is a non-executive of fintech body Innovate Finance and at University of St Andrews.
Fiona Hill
Fiona Hill is the first female Chief of Staff to the UK Prime Minister and founder and CEO of Marsham Street Consultants.
Born and raised in the west of Scotland, Fiona began her career as a journalist in Scotland before joining the Conservative party press office in 2006. She worked alongside Theresa May in the Home Office from 2010 where she played a key role in the introduction of the Modern Slavery Act in 2015.
In 2016, she was appointed joint chief of staff in No10 when Mrs May became Prime Minister.
She founded Marsham Street Consultants which offers relationship management to the business world. She also founded the annual Future Resilience Forum, an international security conference.