Former UK Cabinet Minister, three departments over 7 years — Education, International Development, and Transport, also a Treasury Minister and Minister for Women and Equalities. Keynote Speaker on Social Mobility, Economics and Politics – domestic and international... Read more
Justine Greening served in Government at a pivotal time in domestic and global politics. Pre politics, having studied Business Economics and Accounting, Justine had a successful career in finance and industry with roles at pwc, GSK, Centrica, and with an MBA from the London Business School. It was fitting that she began her Ministerial career in Chancellor George Osborne’s Treasury team as Economic Secretary to the Treasury, playing a key role delivering the 2010 emergency budget.
Quickly promoted by PM David Cameron to the Department for Transport, Justine delivered the successful transport strategy that underpinned the London 2012 Olympics, working with then then Mayor Boris Johnson. From there to the Department for International Development, Justine oversaw the UK’s global development programmes, leading the UK humanitarian response to Ebola and the Syria refugee crisis. She was a leading architect of the Sustainable Development Goals and a member of the UK National Security Council, representing the UK on the Board of the World Bank and chairing the UN Security Council. She was appointed by then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the High Level Panel on Womens’ Economic Empowerment. Her roles have placed her at the heart of the institutions that shape geopolitics and geoeconomics.
However her passion was always education, describing it as her ‘dream job’, Justine became the first comprehensive-educated Secretary of State for Education in Theresa May’s Government. Justine led the Department for Education’s work on skills, social mobility and opportunity. She launched the department’s first Social Mobility Action Plan, embedding the principle that where you start in life should not determine where you finish.
Justine stepped out of Cabinet to launch the Social Mobility Pledge and since leaving Parliament, Justine has become a leading campaigner for social mobility and purpose-led business. She founded the Purpose Coalition which works with leading employers, universities and local authorities to improve opportunity outcomes on the ground and measure impact. Through this work, she brings together leaders from business, education and government to drive systemic change and embed purpose into company strategy and operations.
Today, Justine is a leading commentator and keynote speaker on leadership, equality of opportunity and how purpose can reshape organisations and economies for the better. Drawing on her experience at the highest levels of politics, business and social reform, she shares insights on leadership and how collaboration between sectors can deliver a fairer future for everyone. She also speaks on the uncertain world of geopolitics and geoeconomics, the complex drivers of which she became intimately familiar with during her time at international development. She has appeared on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Any Questions and Question Time, BBC Context and a variety of news outlets.