Shaun Woodward

Shaun brings a wealth of relevant experience to the role. In his 18 years as an MP he served on numerous parliamentary Select Committees, including Equality and Human Rights and Foreign Affairs. He held various Ministerial positions in the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown; and in Cabinet was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland concluding the last stage of the political and peace process in 2010 with devolution of policing and justice powers.

For six years, Shaun was Chair of Human Dignity Trust which globally champions equality for men and women criminalised for their sexuality by their identity as gay. HDT’s mission is achieved through strategic litigation, working with local lawyers and partners around the world to decriminalise homosexuality, bringing human rights and constitutional cases in domestic and international courts.

Most recently in Higher Education, Shaun was Chair of LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art), the UK’s leading drama academy. He led the fundraising campaign to secure £28 million from private donors in the UK and USA, creating world class training facilities.

Shaun was a founding trustee and Deputy Chairman of ChildLine, trustee and the first Chair of the Capital Campaign for English National Opera and Chair of Understanding Industry. He has worked as a trustee for several other UK and US charities.

Before his political career, Shaun was a journalist at BBC TV, working as a producer for Panorama and Newsnight. He was the youngest Editor of current affairs campaign programme That’s Life! which reached 20 million television viewers each week.