These are the women leading Britain’s FTSE 350 companies as Britain’s top companies continue their push towards gender equality.
The business leaders include bosses of some of Britain’s biggest brands in areas from food and drink to telecoms, as well as leaders in utilities and energy.
The FTSE Women Leaders Review report for 2025 showed women now occupy 1,275, or 43%, of roles on company boards and 6,743 (35%) of leadership roles at FTSE 350 companies. That’s up on 2023, and the report’s authors say it “means the target of 40% women’s representation by the end of this year continues to be achieved by FTSE 350 businesses”. But it also acknowledges there’s still more to be done.
The report, released last month, was backed by the government and sponsored by Lloyds Banking Group and KPMG. Ahead of International Women’s Day 2025, BusinessLive is profiling the female CEOs in the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said: “The UK is leading the charge for gender equality in boardrooms, but we cannot rest on our laurels. We must break down the barriers that stop many women being represented in decision-making roles, so that top talent reaches the highest levels of leadership in businesses driving economic growth across Britain.”
Vivienne Artz, chief executive of the FTSE Women Leaders Review, said: “In an increasingly disruptive world in which companies are faced with a combination of economic, geo-political and technological change British businesses are setting an international standard for balanced and inclusive leadership.
“With its unique Government-backed and business-led voluntary approach,the UK has spearheaded a world-leading transformation in the highest ranks of industry. Whilst FTSE 350 company boards are now gender-balanced, sustained effort and determination is required to achieve the 40% target for women in leadership by the end of this year. We look forward to working with businesses to deliver on this ambition.”
Penny James and Nimesh Patel, co-chairs of the FTSE Women Leaders Review, said: “The UK is nothing short of world-leading in driving gender balance at the top of business with business leaders delivering change through voluntary action rather than quotas. Despite many competing priorities companies continue to see equality of opportunity as key to improving productivity and achieving growth.
“Balance on FTSE 350 boards has been achieved and women’s representation on executive teams is steadily increasing but a step-up in commitment is required to deliver parity in the key leadership roles.
“Over the coming year we urge UK business to remain focused on sustaining momentum, harnessing all of the available talent and driving towards a business environment that offers opportunity for all.”
Here are the women leading FTSE 100 businesses as CEO
Allison Kirkby, BT
Glasgow-born Allison Kirkby started her career in the Scotch whisky industry and worked at Procter & Gamble for 20 years before moving into telecoms with Virgin Media. She became president and CEO at Swedish group Telia in 2020 before becoming BT’s group CEO in February 2024. She is is a member of the National Security and Investigatory Powers Committee, and was chair of the audit committee and a non-executive director of Greggs until May 2019.
Dame Amanda Blanc, Aviva
Amanda Blanc grew up in the Rhondda Valley and started her career at Commercial Union, one of Aviva’s ancestor insurance companies. She worked in senior roles across the insurance industry before returning to Aviva as CEO in 2020. Dame Amanda led the UK Government’s 2020 independent review into flood insurance.
Debra Crew, Diageo
Guinness and Johnnie Walker owner Diageo appointed Debra Crew as CEO in June 2023. She served in the US military before moving into the food and drink industry with senior roles at companies including Mars, Nestle and PepsiCo. Before becoming CEO, she led Diageo’s North American operations and also became the group’s chief operating officer. She is a non-executive director at Stanley Black & Decker, Inc.
Dame Emma Walmsley, GSK
Dame Emma became CEO at pharmaceutical and biotech giant GSK in 2017, having been a member of the GSK leadership team since 2011 and having previously worked at cosmetics group L’Oreal. The Barrow-in-Furness-born Oxford graduate is also an independent director at Microsoft.
Jennie Daly, Taylor Wimpey
Jennie Daly took charge at housebuilding giant Taylor Wimpey in April 2022. She had joined the group in 2014 as UK planning director, becoming UK land director in 2015 and group operations director in 2018. Before that she held senior roles at Redrow, Harrow Estates and Westbury plc.
Liv Garfield, Severn Trent
Liv Garfield has been chief executive of Coventry-based Severn Trent Water since 2014. She joined BT Group in 2002 and held a number of senior roles including group director of strategy and regulation, managing director of commercial and brands and chief executive of BT’s Openreach business. While there, she oversaw the £2.5m rollout of fibre broadband to two-thirds of the UK. At 38, she was the youngest female chief executive of a FTSE company and listed at number 10 in Fortune Magazine’s hottest rising business stars. A Cambridge graduate, she resigned from the board of Tesco in 2015 to concentrate on her Severn Trent role.
Louise Beardmore, United Utilities
Louise Beardmore became CEO at Warrington-based United Utilities in March 2023, leading the group’s operations serving North West customers from Cheshire to the Scottish border. She is a graduate of Alliance Manchester Business School and the University of Salford, and is also a non-executive director of Water UK.
Margherita Della Valle, Vodafone
Italian telecoms leader Margherita Della Valle became Vodafone’s first female CEO in 2023. She joined Omnitel Pronto Italia, which later became Vodafone Italy, in 1994 and moved into finance, rising from chief financial officer for Vodafone Italy to in 2018 becoming Vodafone’s group chief financial officer. She is also a non-executive director at Reckitt Benckiser.
Milena Mondini de Focatiis, Admiral
Milena Mondini de Focatiis was appointed chief executive of Wales’ only FTSE 100 company, Admiral, in 2021. Born in Naples she joined the Cardiff headquartered car insurance to loans group, in 2007. Her previous roles included being head of UK and European insurance and chief of ConTe.it, Admiral’s Italian insurance business, which she founded in 2008. Before joining Admiral, Milena worked as a management consultant at Accenture. She holds an MBA from INSEAD and a degree in telecommunications engineering from Universitá degli Studi di Napoli Federico II. Admiral has a global workforce of 11,000, of which around 8,000 are based in South Wales.
Stella David, interim CEO at Entain
Stella David, who was non-executive chair at Ladbrokes owner Entain, was appointed interim CEO at the group in February, having previously been interim CEO from December 2023 to August 2024. Ms David was previously CEO at Scottish distillery group William Grant & Sons, and earlier spent more than 15 years with Bacardi. She is also chair of the board of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and is a non-executive director of privately-owned group Bacardi.
Here are the women leading FTSE 250 businesses as CEO
Dame Carolyn McCall, ITV
Dame Carolyn became ITV’s first female chief executive in 2018 and has driven the broadcasting giant’s digital transformation. She joined from easyJet, where she was CEO for seven years. Before that she spent 20 years at the Guardian Media Group, where she spent four years as chief executive. She has also been a non-executive director of Lloyds TSB, Tesco and New Look Group.
Helen Gordon, Grainger
Helen Gordon was appointed chief executive of Newcastle-based property company Grainger in January 2016. She previously worked for RBS as its global head of real estate asset management and before that as director of Legal and General Property. She has also been group property director at Railtrack and managing director of John Laing Developments.
Linda Cook, Harbour Energy
Linda Cook took the top job at North Sea-focused oil and gas group Harbour Energy in 2021 after a long and successful career in the oil, gas and energy industry. She spent 29 years at Royal Dutch Shell, where she led Shell’s global upstream natural gas business and oversaw its global trading business. Before joining Harbour she was managing director at EIG Global Energy. She is also a non-executive director and chair of the audit committee at global finance giant BNY Mellon.
Lynda Shillaw, Harworth
Lynda Shillaw became chief executive of regeneration group Harworth in 2020 having previously been group property director and a board member at Town Centre Securities plc. She has also worked for Manchester Airports Group, BT, the Co-operative Group and Lloyds Banking Group.
Lyssa McGowan, Pets at Home
Cheshire-based retail giant Pets at Home appointed Lyssa McGowan as CEO in June 2022. Before that she was chief consumer office at Sky UK, leading the consumer businesses that served 10m customers. She has previously worked at Telewest and McKinsey and was a non-executive director at Morrisons before its sale to Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CDR).
Rita Rose Gagné, Hammerson
Rita Rose Gagné was senior partner at Montreal law firm Fasken and spent two years at Hydro Quebec before she joined global investment group Ivanhoé Cambridge where she took senior roles including President of Growth Markets. She joined London’s Hammerson in 2020 to lead its strategic transformation. Hammerson’s flagship retail and leisure developments include Bullring and Grand Central in Birmingham, and Cabot Circus in Bristol.
Robyn Grew, Man Group
Qualified barrister Robyn Grew has led alternative investment management firm Man Group, which has $175bn assets under management, since 2023. She has worked in the investment industry since 1994 and helped senior positions at banks including Barclays Capital in markets including London, New York and Tokyo. She joined Man Group in 2010 through its acquisition of GLG and held positions including chief operating officer, where she led the group’s 2019 reorganisation.
Roisin Currie, Greggs
Roisin Currie was appointed CEO of Greggs in 2022 and has led continued growth of the high street bakery chain which now has more than 2,500 stores across the country. She started her career on Asda’s graduate programme before moving up through the ranks and spending 20 years with the retailer. She joined Greggs in 2010, initially as group people director and later becoming retail operations and people director and retail and property director.
Sam Mudd, Bytes Technology Group
Sam Mudd was confirmed as CEO of Surrey software and cloud services firm Bytes Technology Group in May last year, after serving as interim CEO since February. After holding senior roles at companies including WordPerfect and Trustmarque Solutions, she had joined Bytes’ York-based business Phoenix Software in 2003, becoming its managing director in 2014. She is also a member of the trustee board at Scarborough’s Saint Catherine’s Hospice.
Susan Davy, Pennon
Susan Davy was appointed to the board of the utilities group as chief executive in 2020 having previously served as the company’s finance chief. She has spent more than 27 years in the sector, including at water and sewerage group Kelda. She is also the president of the Institute of Water; a non-executive director and audit chair of Restore; a Water UK board member; and sits on the Energy & Utilities Skills Partnership Council.
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