Dame Ila Dianne Thompson, DBE ( Wood; born 31 December 1950) is a British businesswoman. She was

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Camelot Group from 2000 to 2014.

Early life and education

Thompson was born on 31 December 1950 to Ronald and Joan ( Pinder) Wood. Thompson was educated at the Batley Girls’ Grammar School. She earned

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in French and English from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

as an external student at Manchester Polytechnic (now

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Education ...

Career

Thompson joined Camelot in 1997 and was appointed CEO in 2000. In April 2014 it was announced that Thompson would step down from the position from 31 October. Since 2015, she has been a non-executive director of

Next plc Next plc, trading as Next (styled as NEXT) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational clothing, footwear and home products retailer, which has its headquarters in Enderby, Leicestershire, Enderby, England. It has around 700 stores, of ...

. In 2014, Thompson was among candidates considered to succeed

Chris Patten Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes (; born 12 May 1944), is a British politician who was the Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1992, and the 28th and last Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997. He was made a lif ...

as Chair of the

BBC Trust The BBC Trust was the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) between 2007 and 2017. It was operationally independent of BBC management and external bodies, and its stated aim was to make decisions in the best interests of ...

, but in August, it was announced that the position would be given to

Rona Fairhead Rona Alison Fairhead, Baroness Fairhead, (; born 28 August 1961), is a life peer and businesswoman. She served as a minister of state at the Department for International Trade from 2017 to 2019. Prior to that, she was the last chairman of the ...

, a former Chair of Financial Times Group. It was confirmed in 2014 that Thompson had assumed ownership of The George Hotel on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

and that she had plans to reinvigorate the hotel and its dining offer. From

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE), Thompson was elevated to

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(DBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to the National Lottery and charitable services.2015 New Year Honours List

Personal life

Thompson married Roger Thompson in 1972. They had a daughter, and separated in 1992.

Arms

References

Living people 1950 births Place of birth missing (living people) Alumni of University of London Worldwide Alumni of the University of London Alumni of Manchester Metropolitan University English women in business British chief executives British corporate directors Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire {{UK-business-bio-1950s-stub