Women in the City Annual Lunch Keynote Speaker

The Keynote Speaker

Our 2010 keynote speaker will be Andrea Leadsom.

Andrea Leadsom was elected as the MP for South Northamptonshire in May 2010.

Prior to becoming an MP, Andrea was Financial Institutions Director of Barclays Bank PLC and in 1997 became Managing Director of a successful hedge fund business. From 1999 until 2009 she was Head of Corporate Governance for Invesco Perpetual, one of the UK's largest retail fund managers.

Her political experience began in 2003 when she became a District Councillor in South Oxfordshire winning the seat with a majority of just 11. She fought her first general election in 2005 as Conservative candidate for Knowsley South in Merseyside and achieved a small positive swing to the Conservatives in this Labour heartland.

Andrea was a Special Adviser to the Shadow Children's Team and an advisor to George Osborne's Tax Reform Commission, focusing on capital taxation reform to create a simpler and fairer tax structure.

Since her selection for South Northamptonshire in 2006, Andrea has campaigned on dozens of issues, including a successful campaign to stop the Government from abolishing GP dispensaries. She has set up Job Clubs in Towcester and Brackley that help local residents back into work or re-training. She has also formed a UK-Uganda Schools Linking project that enables South Northants students to meet with and study with students in Uganda.

Andrea is passionate about giving children the best start in life and is the former Chairman of OXPIP, the Oxford Parent Infant Project, a charity that provides therapeutic counselling for families who are struggling to cope with their new babies.

Married and a mother of three young children, she lives in a village near Towcester, South Northamptonshire.