Heather Hancock

Hancock was educated at Park High School, Lancashire and Nelson and Colne College, before going on to study Land Economy at St John's College, Cambridge.[3][4] She was made an honorary fellow of the College in February 2019.[5]

In April 2016, she was appointed Chair of the FSA, having been appointed Deputy Chair in September 2015 whilst awaiting a Parliamentary Select Committee pre-appointment hearing before appointment as Chair was confirmed.[6] In February 2019, she was reappointed for an additional three-year term.[7][2] In May 2019, Hancock testified before the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee about the FSA's preparations for Brexit.[8] Prior to this, she gave evidence on food safety after Brexit to the House of Lords EU Energy and Environment Sub-Committee in March 2019 and in July 2018.[9][10]

In August 2017, Hancock joined Rural Solutions Limited as a non-executive director.[11] In January 2019, she was appointed to chair the Group Board and Trustees of Holker Hall, and is a Trustee of the Chatsworth House Settlement Trust.[12] In 2014, Hancock was commissioned by the BBC Trust to report on bias and impartiality in the Corporation's rural affairs output.[13][14]

She was a Managing Partner of Deloitte in the United Kingdom and Switzerland between 2008 and 2014, with executive responsibility for Innovation, Brand, Communications and Talent, and a Partner in the firm's Strategy Consulting business from 2003-2014. She led the firm’s global services to the 2012 Summer Olympics, and the global Olympic movement.[15] Hancock was a member of Deloitte's global leadership team from 2011 to 2013 as Global MD for Brand and Communications.[16]

Before joining Deloitte, Hancock was Executive Director of Yorkshire Forward and Chief Executive of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.[17] Hancock established the Millennium Commission in 1994, serving as its Acting Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executive. Prior to this, Hancock formed part of the team creating the new Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport established after the 1992 General Election, where she was Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary, Hayden Phillips. She joined the Government Economic Service in 1988, and was posted to the Home Office, where she served as Private Secretary to Home Secretary David Waddington, Baron Waddington, Kenneth Baker MP, and Kenneth Clarke MP.

In 1997, Hancock spent two years chairing the Football League's working party on the structure of football. From 2003 to 2010, Hancock chaired the BBC's independent Rural Affairs Committee. From 2000 to 2012, she was a trustee of the Prince's Trust, and deputy chair of the World Athletics Championships and World Para Athletics Championships from 2013 to 2016.[18] She chaired the Governors of Giggleswick School from 2013 to 2019, having been appointed in 2007. Hancock was a Trustee of the International Business Leaders Forum from 2011 to 2014 and a founder of the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust.[19][20] She was appointed a member of North Yorkshire County Council's Commission to inquire into the sustainability of remote rural communities in 2019.[21]

In November 2019, it was announced that Hancock had been elected Master of St John's College, Cambridge, and that she would take up her post in October 2020.[22][23] It was later announced that Hancock would leave her post at the Food Standards Agency after taking office as Master.[24]

Hancock lives in North Yorkshire, where she serves as a county Deputy Lieutenant.[25] In 2013, Hancock became a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order to recognise her work with the Prince's Trust.

• CV (from 2016) on House of Commons website(archived version)