Dame Irene Hays (née Lucas; born 4 February 1954) is a British businesswoman and former civil servant. She is the owner and chair of

Hays Travel Hays Travel Limited is an independent travel agent chain headquartered in Sunderland, England. , the company has the largest number of retail travel shops in the United Kingdom, at 494. Nearly 90% of the company's bookings are made using trave ...

, the largest independent travel agent in the UK, which she jointly owned with her husband John Hays until his death in 2020.

Early life

Hays was born Irene Lucas in

Gosforth Gosforth is an area of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, situated north of the Newcastle City Centre, City Centre. It constituted a separate Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland), urban district of Northumberland from 1895 until 1974 before of ...

on 4 February 1954 and grew up in

Ashington Ashington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, with a population of 27,864 at the 2011 Census. It was once a centre of the coal mining industry. The town is north of Newcastle upon Tyne, west of the A189 and bordered to the ...

, the daughter of Vincent and Isabelle Lucas.

Career

Hays worked in local government, rising to the position of chief executive of

South Tyneside Council South Tyneside Council is the local authority of for the metropolitan borough of South Tyneside in the ceremonial county of Tyne and Wear in North East England. It is one of five metropolitan boroughs in Tyne and Wear and one of 36 in England. It ...

and

Sunderland City Council Sunderland City Council is the local authority of City of Sunderland, Sunderland, a metropolitan borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in the ceremonial county of Tyne and Wear in North East England. It is one of five such ...

. She was later an advisor to Ministers and Secretaries of State in Whitehall and served as a Permanent Secretary. In 1980, her late husband John founded

in the back of his mother's children's wear store in

Seaham Seaham ( ) is a seaside town in County Durham (district), County Durham, England. Located on the Durham Coast, Seaham is situated south of Sunderland and east of Durham, England, Durham. The town grew from the late 19th century onwards as ...

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

. Irene now owns the majority share. She has been the chair of the Hays Travel Group since 2009. She was a non-executive board member at the Department for Education between November 2018 and December 2021 and was also chair of the

Education and Skills Funding Agency Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education also fol ...

(ESFA) management board. Irene was a board member of

Sport England Sport England is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Its role is to build the foundations of a community sport system by working with national governing bodies of sport, and other funded partners, ...

and The Academy for Sustainable Communities and a director general at the Department of Communities and Local Government. Under her leadership, the company has expanded significantly, operating nearly 500 retail outlets nationwide and generating a turnover of approximately £423.5 million in the fiscal year ending April 2023, with gross sales reaching £2.2 billion. Hays has been instrumental in driving Hays Travel's success, notably leading the acquisition of Thomas Cook's retail operations in 2019, saving over 2,000 jobs. Since then, Hays Travel has acquired five other businesses, both retail and online. Hays Travel also carries out the back-office support services for 120 independent travel agencies across the UK.

Honours

Hays was appointed a

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) in the

2008 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2008 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 29 December 2007, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2008. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and ...

for services to local government and

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

2021 New Year Honours The 2021 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to training, education, and young people. and served as High Sheriff of Tyne and Wear from April 2023 to April 2024. In December 2018, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the

University of Sunderland The University of Sunderland is a public research university located in Sunderland in the North East of England. Its predecessor, Sunderland Technical College, was established as a municipal training college in 1901. It gained university status ...

. Hays has also been awarded an honorary MBA. She was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Tyne & Wear in 2020.

Personal life

In 1997, she married John Hays. They have one son and one daughter. John was the company's CEO. He died on 13 November 2020, after collapsing from cardiac arrest at the company's

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

head office.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hays, Irene 1954 births Living people British women business executives Civil servants in the Department for Communities and Local Government British permanent secretaries Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Deputy lieutenants of Tyne and Wear High sheriffs of Tyne and Wear