Laurel Powers-Freeling
Laurel has participated on over 20 boards and is currently the Chair of Uber UK, Sumitomo Mitsui Bank International Plc, Moneybox (a digital, app-based savings and investment platform) and Majid Al Futtaim Global Solutions (a shared service providing IT, finance, human capital, procurement and other support in the Gulf Region). In the life science and healthcare arena, Laurel currently chairs Cambridge University Health Partners (the Government-designated Academic Health Science Centre for Cambridge) and Cambridge Biomedical Campus Ltd (a world-leading location for life science research, scaling and healthcare delivery). She is also a Fellow/Trustee of Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music.
Laurel has held a wide range of non-executive roles previously, including as a member of the Court of the Bank of England, returning to act as a Senior Advisor in the wake of the Financial Crisis. Laurel has had previous engagement on climate-related issues as a NED for Environmental Resources Management LLP, a global environmental consultancy, and while on the Executive Board of the MIT Sloan School, where she supported joint work with the Smithsonian Institution on changing sea levels. Having started her career at McKinsey, she went first to Morgan Stanley and then on to hold senior management or board-level executive roles, at the Prudential, Lloyds Bank Group, Marks & Spencer plc and American Express.
“The pendulum of concern for the environment and how we and future generations will cope has swung in the direction of change, but many organisations are still struggling with how to engage and map out a sustainable future. Boards – and in particular, NEDs – governing those organisations need to be equipped to support, probe, challenge and help guide their companies in what will be challenging period to come. Chapter Zero has been instrumental thus far in raising board awareness of climate change imperative in a broad range of settings, and will increasingly move towards helping NEDs gain confidence in assessing progress and impact. I look forward to playing a part in the continued journey of Chapter Zero and the difference it can make."
