Margaret Casely-Hayford

Margaret Henrietta Augusta Casely-Hayford"Casely-Hayford, Margaret Henrietta Augusta"
''Who's Who 2019''. CBE (born 1959)"Margaret Casely-Hayford"
BLD, April 2010. is a British lawyer, businesswoman and public figure who is active in the voluntary sector. She is at the forefront of working to create diversity on boards and is joint-manager of a rap artist and digital media entrepreneur. Casely-Hayford was a candidate in the 2024 University of Oxford Chancellor election, described by ''The Times'' as an outside bet for the role, with William Hague eventually being elected.

Biography

Background and education

Margaret Casely-Hayford was born in London, England, into the prominent Ghanaian Casely-Hayford family: she is the daughter of Victor Casely-Hayford, an accountant who had trained as a barrister, her grandfather was the Gold Coast lawyer, writer and politician J. E. Casely Hayford, and her brothers are historian Gus Casely-Hayford, designer Joe Casely-Hayford and Peter Casely-Hayford, formerly managing director of TV production company Twenty Twenty. In 2008, the Casely-Hayfords were named on "The Black Powerlist" as the most influential black family in the UK.

Casely-Hayford was educated at Streatham and Clapham High School, a private day school for girls; she studied law at Somerville College, Oxford, graduating in 1982, and did her Bar finals at the Inns of Court School of Law, being called to the Bar in 1983 (Gray's Inn).

Career

Casely-Hayford worked for 20 years with the law firm Dentons, where she was made a Partner, becoming the first black woman to hold such a position in a City firm. She specialised in planning matters, and in 1995 wrote a book entitled ''Practical Planning: Permission and the Application''.

From 2000 to 2008, she was a government-appointed trustee of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital Charity and of the Geffrye Museum and was on the development board of the Young Vic theatre. During 2012–16, she was a non-executive director of NHS England, and on the Board of the British Retail Consortium. She also serves on the Metropolitan Police panel overseeing the investigation into police corruption."106 seconds with… Margaret Casely-Hayford, Chair, Action Aid UK"
6th Sense, 10 August 2015. She is in the forefront of working to create diversity on boards.

For nine years, until 2014, she was Director of Legal Services and Company Secretary for the John Lewis Partnership. She was also on the Board of the British Retail Consortium for four years to 2014.

She became Chair of the charity ActionAid UK in 2014, and in 2016 she became a member-nominated Director of The Co-op."Board and directors"
Co-op. She is an ambassador of Board Apprentice and Chairs the advisory board of Ultra Education, working to develop young entrepreneurs, and a non-executive director of WetZebra Media. She is also a trustee of The Radcliffe Trust, one of Britain's oldest charities supporting classical music performance and training,

She chaired the diversity review conducted by CILIP in 2017 into the awarding of the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals. Committed to encouraging all business leaders to promote diversity on boards, she has said: "That is the future. There is a whole slew of people who still feel that they aren't part of the game. We are a mixed society – that's what Britain has been for so long. We just need to be more positive rather than negative, and showcase it. We are now at a crossroads."

Additionally, she is the former mentor of rap artist and media entrepreneur Kelvyn Colt.

In July 2017, Casely-Hayford was named the new Chancellor of Coventry University, the first woman to hold the position."Margaret Casely-Hayford named new Chancellor of Coventry University"
Coventry University, 17 July 2017. She was appointed for a second term in 2020 and stood down in 2024.

In February 2018, she was announced as the new chair of the board of Shakespeare's Globe, taking over the appointment from Michael Bichard. Casely-Hayford stood down from the role in 2023.

In 2024, Casely-Hayford was named as a candidate in the running to be Chancellor of Oxford University.

Awards and recognition

In 2014, she was voted Black British Business Person of the Year at the Black British Business Awards (BBBA) founded by Melanie Eusebe.

In 2016, Casely-Hayford was awarded an honorary doctorate by Middlesex University."Margaret Casely-Hayford awarded an Honorary Degree"
Middlesex University UniHub, 13 July 2016.

She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2018 Birthday Honours, for charitable services in the UK and abroad.

In October 2019, it was announced that Casely-Hayford would be featured in the 2020 ''Powerlist'' as one of the 100 most influential black people in the United Kingdom. The following year, Casely-Hayford was included in the 2021 edition of the ''Powerlist'', for her contributions to the education sector.

In 2020, she was elected an Honorary Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford.

In 2021, Casely-Hayford was elected a Master of the Bench at Gray's Inn.

She was again named on the ''Powerlist'' in 2022, listed in the "Public, Third Sector & Education" category.

References

External links

*

"Inspirational Woman: Margaret Casely-Hayford CBE , Chancellor, Coventry University"
''We Are the City'', 13 August 2020.

"Face Into the Darkness of Our History , Margaret Casely-Hayford , TEDxOxford"
TEDx Talks, 28 June 2021.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Casely-Hayford, Margaret
Living people
1959 births
21st-century British businesswomen
Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford
Alumni of the Inns of Court School of Law
Black British lawyers
21st-century Black British people
21st-century British lawyers
British legal writers
British women lawyers
British women non-fiction writers
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
English people of Ghanaian descent
Fante people
Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford
Ghanaian people of English descent
Ghanaian people of Irish descent
People associated with Coventry University
Women academic administrators
Margaret