Heather Rabbatts
Heather Rabbatts is Chairman of Shed Media plc, and holds a number of other board appointments, including the UK Film Council, Crossrail, and the Royal Opera House. She was also voted, by Parliamentarians, the 2008 Scottish Widows Business Woman of the Year.
Heather Rabbatts was a BBC Governor, the youngest ever CEO of Merton and Lambeth Councils, Head of Education at Channel 4, Governor of the London School of Economics, Director of the Bank of England, and a Trustee of the British Council.
Her role as Executive Deputy Chairman of Millwall Football Club proved to be one of her biggest challenges. Few women are welcomed into the world of football, far fewer of mixed race who admit to knowing nothing about football. However, she has always relished a challenge and took the lead on arrangements for a significant investment into Millwall by an American Consortium, thereby securing its future.
Described as one of Britain’s most influential women and famed for taking on “the worst job in local government” and now “the worst job in football”, Heather credits her robust nature to the influence of her domineering Jamaican mother, Cynthia — one of the first black fashion models in the United States.
Until 1991 she had held a variety of managerial positions at the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham before being appointed Deputy Chief Executive with responsibility for policy, personnel, communications, equality and community relations. She then moved to be the Chief Executive of the London Borough of Merton.
During her time as CEO of Lambeth Council, Heather achieved a remarkable turnaround in its financial state, the quality of service and management, and staff morale. Council tax collections went up from 56 per cent, then the lowest in Britain, up to a more respectable 74 per cent, more than £40m was saved in the budget, and the workforce was reduced by 1,200 to 9,000.
Upon leaving Lambeth Council, Heather became Chief Executive of iMPOWER, a public sector consultancy providing strategic consultancy to national and local government, focussed on the use of new technologies to improve citizens access to services. She subsequently became co-chair of iMPOWER and moved on to be Managing Director of Channel 4’s education programmes and business, 4Learning.
Heather's leadership skills have been widely reported in the UK press, and are testimony to her clear sense of vision and ability to effect real change within public and private sector organisations.