Lady Cobham

Biographical Details
"Lady Cobham became Chairman of VisitEngland in April 2009. She has previously been on the VisitBritain board for several years, and named as deputy chairman in March 2005. Her current role on the VisitBritain board is in an ex-officio capacity.

"For 20 years she was responsible for restoring, and opening to the public, Georgian Hagley Hall in the West Midlands. She developed a successful corporate entertaining and outside catering business to defray the costs of running the last great Palladian house to be built in England.

"She served on the boards of the English Tourist Board, English Heritage, the Countryside Commission and Historic Royal Palaces before moving to act as the Special Adviser on tourism and heritage in the newly created Department of National Heritage in 1992. Subsequently, she was appointed to the boards of the V&A, British Waterways and the London Docklands Development Corporation, where she led on tourism.  She was Deputy Chairman of VisitBritain from 2005 to 2009.

"In the private sector, for 14 years, Lady Cobham chaired regional radio station 100.7 Heart FM, the largest station outside London. Between 2000 and 2009 she chaired the British Casino Association, steering the industry through the period of the 2005 Gambling Act.  She has been a consultant with accountants Ernst & Young and lawyers Farrers and was an adviser to Park Resorts amongst other private sector interests.

"Lady Cobham is currently an Adviser to Citi Private Bank and is Chairman of the UK’s largest arts prize, the Art Fund Prize for museums and galleries."