Educated at the Universities of Bombay and London, Lord Bhikhu Parekh is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and of the Academy of the Learned Societies for Social Sciences and a Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Westminster.
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As well as his role of a patron for Runnymede, he is vice-chairman of the Gandhi Foundation, a trustee of the Anne Frank Educational Trust, and a member of the National Commission on Equal Opportunity.
His main academic interests include political philosophy, the history of political thought, social theory, ancient and modern Indian political thought, and the philosophy of ethnic relations.
Lord Professor Parekh is the author of several different books and publications, among others the book: Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory (2000);
Lord Parekh has received many awards throughout his career: the Sir Isaiah Berlin Prize for lifetime contribution to political philosophy by the Political Studies Association (2002); the Distinguished Global Thinker Award by the India International Centre Delhi (2006); the Interdependence Prize from the Campaign for Democracy (New York, 2006), and the Padma Bhushan Honours in the 2007 Indian Republic Day Honours list.
Baroness Amos
Baroness Valerie Ann Amos is the British High Commissioner to Australia. She began her career in local government, working in various London boroughs from 1981 to 1989.
Before becoming a commissioner, she had been made a Labour life peer in 1997 and served as Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council. When she was appointed Secretary of State for International Development in 2003, she became the first black woman to sit in the cabinet.
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Baroness Amos was previously Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs with responsibility for Africa, the Commonwealth, the Caribbean, Overseas Territories, Consular Issues and FCO Personnel.
In July 2010 Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon announced Baroness Amos’ appointment to the role of Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.
Dame Diana Brittan CBE
Dame Diana Brittan has held a number of public appointments since 1984 and has extensive experience in the public and voluntary sectors.
She is currently chairing the Connection at St. Martin’s, as well as the London and South Regional Committee of the British Lung Foundation. In July 2009 she was appointed chairman of Independent Age, a charity working to keep older people independent and out of poverty.
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Previously she was chairman of the Community Fund (formerly the National Lottery Charities Board).
As well as her voluntary appointments, Diana serves as Justice of the Peace in the City of London and is president of the Townswomen’s Guilds.
Sir Adrian Cadbury
One of Runnymede's first trustees back in 1968, Sir Adrian was director of the Bank of England from 1970 to 1994 and chancellor of Aston University 1979 to 94, where he is now a visiting professor.
Sir Adrian studied economics at Cambridge, joining the Cadbury confectionery business in 1952. He became Chairman of Cadbury Limited in 1965 and retired as Chairman of Cadbury Schweppes in 1989.
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Sir Adrian was also chairman of the UK Committee on the Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance, which published its Report and Code of Best Practice. He is also a member of the OECD Business Sector Advisory Group on Corporate Governance.
He has been awarded the Royal Society of the Arts Albert Medal in 1995, the International Corporate Governance Network Award in 2001, and the International Academy of Management’s Distinguished Award 2003. Sir Adrian also received the Laureate Medal for Corporate Governance in 2005.
His publications include: The Company Chairman 1990 and Corporate Governance and Chairmanship – A Personal View, published by Oxford University Press in October 2002, which has been translated into Japanese and Chinese.
Emeritus Professor Stuart Hall
Cultural theorist and sociologist Emeritus Professor Stuart Hall is one of the founding figures of the school of thought that is known as British Cultural Studies or the Birmingham School of Cultural Studies.
He was president of the British Sociological Association from 1995 to 1997.
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In 1964, he joined the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at Birmingham University. In 1968 he was appointed director of the centre and remained there until 1979. He is credited with playing a role in expanding the scope of cultural studies to deal with race and gender.
Stuart left the centre in 1979 to become a professor of sociology at the Open University. Hall retired from the Open University in 1997 and is now a Professor Emeritus.
The Observer called him 'one of the country's leading cultural theorists'.
Lady Hollick
Lady Sue Woodford-Hollick is a businesswoman and consultant with wide ranging experience in broadcasting and the arts.
She is a former current affairs producer and documentary maker for Granada Television and a founding commissioning editor for Channel 4 television.
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Sue recently retired after nine years as chair of the Arts Council England in London. She has chaired and been a trustee of numerous arts organisations including: Tate Members, Index on Censorship, Talawa Theatre Company and the Theatre Museum.
She is the founder and co-owner of Bringing Up Baby Ltd, a London-based childcare company.
Currently Sue is also a trustee of AMREF (African Medical Research Foundation), Africa’s largest health NGO, based in Nairobi and she chairs the Amref UK board. She is also a trustee of the Free Word Centre and Complicite Theatre Company.
Baroness Neuberger DBE
Baroness Julia Neuberger DBE was Britain’s second female rabbi, and the first to lead a synagogue on her own.
She served the South London Liberal Synagogue for 12 years, before going to the King's Fund Institute as a visiting fellow, to work on research ethics committees in the United Kingdom.
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She has previously been chair of Camden and Islington Community Health Services Trust and became Chief Executive of the King’s Fund until 2004. She served as a civil service commissioner and was a member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life.
Baroness Neuberger was made a DBE in the New Year’s Honours List of 2004, and in June 2004 she was created a life peer. In 2007 she was appointed the prime minister’s champion for volunteering, a post she relinquished in early June 2009.
Trevor Phillips OBE
Trevor Phillps OBE is a former Runnymede chair. He was announced as chair of the new Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in September 2006, and was reappointed in July 2009.
Trevor's previous appointment was as chair of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) from March 2003.
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Born in London in 1953, Trevor attended secondary school in Georgetown, Guyana, and then studied chemistry at Imperial College London. Between 1978 and 1980, he was president of The National Union of Students.
He then went into broadcasting, becoming Head of Current Affairs at LWT in 1992. Trevor received awards from the Royal Television Society in 1988, 1993 and 1998.
He was elected as a member of the Greater London Authority in May 2000, and became chair of the assembly later that month.
Trevor is a director of Pepper Productions, founded in 1995, and was the executive producer on Windrush (which won the Royal Television Society Documentary Series of the Year award in 1998), Britain's Slave Trade, Second Chance and When Black Became Beautiful. He is a vice president of the Royal Television Society.
At present, he is a board member of Aldeburgh Productions and The Bernie Grant Centre in Tottenham. He is a patron of The Sickle Cell Society.
In addition to many newspaper articles and comment pieces, Trevor has co-written Windrush: The Irresistible Rise of Multiracial Britain (with Mike Phillips), published in 1998, and Britain's Slave Trade (with S.I. Martin) published the following year.
Baroness Prashar CBE
Baroness Prashar, a former Runnymede director, has been chairman of the Judicial Appointments Commission since October 2005. From 2000 to 2005 she was the First Civil Service Commissioner.
Previously she was Chairman of the Parole Board for England and Wales, director of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.
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Currently she is president of the Royal Commonwealth Society, a governor of the Ditchley Foundation, a trustee of Cumberland Lodge, and a non-executive director of ITV.
She is also president of UK Council for International Student Affairs and an honorary president of the Community Foundation Network.
Baroness Prashar's past appointments have included: Board member and chancellor of De Montfort University; chairman of the National Literacy Trust; governor of Salzburg Seminar; board member of Ashridge College; trustee of the Windsor Leadership Trust and non-executive director of the Cabinet Office
She has also served as a member of the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice, the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Legal Education and Conduct, the Arts Council. She has been non-executive director of Channel 4 and a member of the Joint Committee of the House of Lords and House of Commons on Human Rights.
Baroness Prashar was born in Kenya. She attended Universities of Leeds and Glasgow.
She was made a CBE in 1994 and awarded a peerage in 1999. She sits in the House of Lords as a crossbencher and was a member of the Committee of Inquiry into the Iraq conflict.
Baroness Whitaker
Baroness Janet Whitaker was created a Life Peer in 1999, after a career in publishing and the civil service.
Her last post carried national and international responsibility for gender discrimination, including leading the national delegation to the 4th UN Conference on Women. She also joined the Runnymede representation to the UN Conference against Racism in 2001.
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Baroness Whitaker has been a was a member of the Select Committee on the European Union subcommittee on social policy and migration, the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights and Joint Parliamentary Committees on the draft Corruption Bill.
