Inspirational Women Series: Baroness Neville-Rolfe DBE CMG in a Fireside Chat with Su-Mei Thompson, CEO of The Women's Foundation

22
Aug
Level 41, Barclays Hong Kong Office, Cheung Kong Center, 2 Queen's Road Central
12.30-2.00 p.m.
Monday, August 22, 2016
Registration Deadline: 21st Aug 2016

The Women in Business Committee is pleased to invite Baroness Neville-Rolfe to speak in their Inspirational Women Series, in a fireside chat moderated by Su-Mei Thompson, CEO of The Women's Foundation. Baroness Neville-Rolfe will share with us her career journey and the challenges she has faced on both executive boards and the political sphere. 

Baroness Neville-Rolfe was appointed Minister of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 17 July 2016. She joined the House of Lords as a Conservative Peer in October 2013 and served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (jointly with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport) and was Minister for Intellectual Property from May 2015 until her new appointment. She has also served on the board for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) for a number of years. 

Prior to her political career, Baroness Neville-Rolfe worked at Tesco Plc from 1997 to 2013 and became an Executive Director on the main board from 2006. She has also served on the boards of ITV, PwC and Metro AG and the China-Britain Business Council and was Chairman of Dobbies Garden Centres Plc, as well as President of EuroCommerce, the EU trade association, between 2012 and 2014. Until 1997 she was a senior civil servant in the Cabinet Office, the Prime Minister’s Policy Unit and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. She was awarded her CMG for her time on the FCO Board and her DBE for services to industry and the voluntary sector. 

Su-Mei Thompson started her career at Linklaters as a corporate finance associate and went on to hold senior management positions at The Walt Disney Company, the Financial Times and Christie’s. A Cambridge, Oxford and IMD graduate, she is also a recent recipient of the Andy Choa Scholarship which sponsors Hong Kong NGO leaders to attend the SPNM programme at Harvard Business School. In 2015, Su-Mei was the winner of the AmCham Women of Influence Award for Non-Profit Leader of the Year and the HKAH/Tatler Women of Hope Award for Power & Influence. She was also recognised as one of Hong Kong's 100 Most Influential People by Debrett's and the SCMP. 

In 2013, Su-Mei founded the 30% Club HK, a group of chairmen and business leaders who are committed to bring more women onto corporate boards.  Su-Mei is a member of the Equal Opportunities Commission, she serves on the board of Opera HK and is a council member of The Cheltenham Ladies College, her alma mater. Her talk "Dying To Be Thin" at last year's TEDxWanChai can be viewed here. 

Click here to register via BritCham.