Michelle Mitchell

Mitchell grew up in Ellesmere Port.[2] She was the first in her family to attend university, and studied economics at the University of Manchester, earning a bachelor's degree in 1994.[2] She worked for Donald Dewar after graduating, completing a Master's degree at University College London in political administration in the evenings.[2] In 1997 she joined Charter 88, a political campaigning group who worked on the House of Lords Reform Bill 2012.[2] She earned an International Executive Diploma from INSEAD in 2005 and an Innovations in Governance qualification from the John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2006.[2][3]

Mitchell was appointed the governmental affairs adviser to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) in 2000.[2] Mitchell worked at Age Concern as Head of Public Affairs from 2002 and Director of Communications from 2007.[4] From 2005 to 2008 Mitchell was Chair of Trustees of the Fawcett Society.[5]

She worked as Charity Director at Age UK from 2010.[4] At Age UK Mitchell launched Let's Talk Money to get the charity to tackle several political issues, aiming to improve old people's incomes.[4][6] She spoke about her work on Woman's Hour.[7] When she left she appointed Hannah Pearce and Angela Kitching to job share as Head of External Relations.[8]

Mitchell served as Chief Executive of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain from 2013 to 2018.[9][10] She oversaw a 40% increase in access to treatments for MS and launched a £100 million fundraising campaign.[11] During this time she wrote regularly for the Huffington Post.[12] She is a non-executive director of NHS England and on board of trustees of Power to Change Trust.[13] As non-executive chief director she visits NHS facilities and evaluates their progress.[14] She was appointed the Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK in 2018.[15][16]