Katharine Barker – Keynote Speaker

Katharine Barker CBE is Senior Advisor at Credit Suisse. She was previously the Chief Economic Advisor of CBI (1994-2001), and prior to this, she was Chief European Economist of Ford of Europe (1985-94). She was Research Officer at the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (1981-85) and Investment Analyst of Post Office Pension Fund (1979-81).

Katharine Barker is also Non-Executive Director of Electra Private Equity plc, Yorkshire Building Society, and of Taylor-Wimpey plc. She is also a Non-executive member for the Office for Budget Responsibility, where she has a governance role to ensure the smooth operation and independence of the OBR. She is the Chair of Northern Ireland Economic Advisory Group, a small group of experts brought together to advise the Northern Ireland Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment.

She was previously a board member of Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), the Housing Corporation, and a member of Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), Bank of England (2001-10). Whilst on the MPC Katherine led two major public policy reviews, the Barker Review of UK Housing Supply (2003-04) and the Barker Review of Land-Use Planning (2005-6), in both cases reporting to the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. She was Chair of Board of Governors of Anglia Ruskin University 2007-10 where she was member of Board from 2000-2010. In 2014 she chaired a Commission on the Future of Health and Social Care in England for the King’s Fund, which delivered its final report in September. She also led a quality review for the Office for National Statistics during 2014.

Katharine Barker was a non-executive director at the Yorkshire Building Society (1999-2001), and member of Chancellor Clarke’s Panel of Economic Advisers (1996-97).

In 2012 Barker chaired the advisory board for the Spatial Economics Research Centre at the London School of Economics (LSE) and is a member of the advisory board of LSE’s Centre for Economic Policy. She became Chair of the advisory board for the Centre for Business Research at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, the university awarded her an honorary doctorate.

She has been Chair of the Society of Business Economists since 2013. In March 2014 she was appointed a member of the Fiscal Policy Panel of the States of Jersey. In September 2014 Dame Kate Barker became Chair of the Trustees of the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme.

In 2005, Katharine was awarded a CBE for services to social housing.Barker was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to social housing in 2006 and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to the economy. She is an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences, Chair of the Northern Ireland Economic Advisory Group, and a trustee of the Essex Community Foundation.

Her book, Housing: Where’s the Plan was published in September 2014 by London Publishing Partnership.

Katharine Barker achieved a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from St Hilda’s College, Oxford University.