Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith

Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith CBE has been Chair of the Airport Operators Association since 1 September 2019.

Ruby is also Chair of Mind Gym and the Chair of the Institute of Apprenticeships and Technical Education.  Ruby is a non-Executive Director for the Tideway Tunnel and was previously the President of the British Chambers of Commerce and Chief Executive of Mitie Group, the strategic outsourcing company which employed over 65,000 people and during her tenure became the largest Facilities Management business in the UK.   Ruby joined Mitie in 2002 as Chief Financial Officer, became the Chief Operating Officer in 2005 and Chief Executive Officer in 2007. She is one of a small number of women who have held the position of Chief Executive in the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 and is the first Asian woman to be appointed in such a role within that group of companies.

Ruby was recognised as a top 50 female world business leader by the FT in 2013.

Ruby was an Independent Non-Executive Director of Page Group from 2007 to 2017.  She Chaired the Audit Committee, was a Member of Nomination and Remuneration Committees and latterly their Senior Independent Director.

Ruby is a member of the House of Lords, having been granted a Life Peerage in 2015.  She is also a member of the Risk Assessment and Risk Planning Committee and is responsible for the Independent Report to the UK Government on Race in the Workplace published in February 2017.  Chair of the UK Government’s Women’s Business Council between 2012 and 2016 and a Business Ambassador for the  UK from 2012 to 2019. She was appointed by the UK Government to be the In-Work Progression Commissioner in 2020.

Ruby is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award in 2015, the profession’s most prestigious Award.