61 Facts About Barbara Judge

Barbara Thomas Judge, Lady Judge, previously known as Barbara Singer Thomas, was an American and British lawyer and businesswoman, based in London with dual American-British citizenship.

Barbara Judge was a trustee of several cultural and charitable institutions and a former trustee of the Royal Academy of Arts and Dementia UK.

Barbara Judge was often considered one of the UK's most prominent business executives, featuring in power lists compiled by Management Today, Debrett's and BBC Radio Four's Woman's Hour, the latter describing her as "one of the best-connected women in Britain".

Barbara Judge's father owned a small business; her mother was associate dean of students at New York Institute of Technology.

Barbara Judge's mother taught that women "can have a serious career and be a serious mother".

Barbara Judge worked her way through university as a model, tutor, computer programmer and occasional waitress.

Barbara Judge was a member of the Order of the Coif, a John Norton Pomeroy Scholar, a former editor of the New York University Law Review and the recipient of the Jefferson Davis Prize in Public Law.

In 1980, Barbara Judge Thomas was appointed by President Carter as a member of the US Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, DC, for a five-year term.

Barbara Judge's appointment was widely reported, being the youngest-ever SEC commissioner and only the second woman in the role.

Barbara Judge was instrumental in opening US capital markets to foreign companies.

Barbara Judge negotiated on behalf of the US government to open the Tokyo Stock Exchange to foreign members, against opposition from some US financial commentators, who believed that American investors would be uninterested in Japanese stocks.

Barbara Judge later described these achievements as among the most significant of her career.

Later, as Lady Barbara Judge, she was a deputy chairman of The Financial Reporting Council.

Barbara Judge worked in various capacities for the British Government's Department of Trade and Industry and its Department for Constitutional Affairs, as well as a public member of the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants.

Barbara Judge was the first woman to serve in the role.

Barbara Judge was reappointed as chairman in 2013 and completed her second term in July 2016.

Barbara Judge advocated that the pension regulator be given the power to block companies from deals that would harm pension scheme members, referring to Sir Philip Green's sale of British Home Stores to Dominic Chappell.

In May 2016, Lady Barbara Judge was announced as the chairman-elect of Cifas, the UK's fraud prevention service.

In February 2018, Barbara Judge was appointed chair of the Astana Financial Services Authority in Kazakhstan.

Barbara Judge disputed the claim but settled out of court to avoid a protracted court case.

In 1993, Barbara Judge Thomas was an executive director of Rupert Murdoch's News International.

Barbara Judge was the first woman on the Board of Overseers of the Wharton School of Management at the University of Pennsylvania and a founding director of the Lauder Institute of Management at Wharton, as well as a member of the Board of Trustees of New York Institute of Technology.

Barbara Judge was an Honorary Visiting Professor in Experiential Leadership and Head of Council for the Cass Global Women's Leadership Programme, completing her one-year term in June 2018.

In January 2016, Lady Barbara Judge was appointed the first female chairman of the Advisory Board of the Association for Consultancy and Engineering, succeeding Sir John Armitt.

Barbara Judge was a trustee of Historic Royal Palaces, Inc and of the Royal Academy of Arts, where she was an active fundraiser and chairman of the Benjamin West Patrons Group.

Barbara Judge was a visiting fellow of the University of Oxford Said Business School at the Centre for Corporate Reputation.

Barbara Judge funded a scholarship for black African women to study at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

Barbara Judge sat on the advisory board for Accelerate-Her, a network in support of women working in technology.

Barbara Judge was chairman of the management board of SNOMED International, a not-for-profit organization that owns, administers and develops SNOMED CT.

Barbara Judge was appointed to Dementia UK's Board of Trustees in January 2015.

Barbara Judge was an advisor to The Cambridge Code, a firm providing software-based diagnostic tools.

Barbara Judge was on the board of the US coal group Massey Energy.

Barbara Judge resigned from the board three weeks after the disaster, citing other ongoing business activities.

Barbara Judge was not personally criticised in the official report into the disaster, written by the US Government's Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Lady Barbara Judge became a non-executive director in 2002, and in 2004 the chairman, of the UK Atomic Energy Authority.

Barbara Judge was succeeded by Roger Cashmore in 2010, after the sale of the UKAEA's decommissioning business to Babcock International Group in 2009.

Barbara Judge proposed an alternative plan, where the business would be built up, internationalised and then privatised.

The agency's main business was decommissioning old British nuclear sites; Barbara Judge pushed for similar contracts on sites in the former Soviet Union and pursued partnerships in countries such as Korea.

Barbara Judge lobbied the Tony Blair government to end its opposition to nuclear power.

Barbara Judge describes her time with UKAEA as "like spinning straw into gold", referring to her initial brief to close down the agency.

In October 2012, Barbara Judge was appointed deputy chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Company's Nuclear Reform Monitoring Committee and chairman of its Nuclear Safety Task Force.

Barbara Judge has argued that it is particularly appropriate for a woman to join the group, as women are typically the most vocal opponents of nuclear power.

Barbara Judge believed nuclear energy is critical to the security of energy supply and its associated national security, and that nuclear power has as much of a role to play in carbon reduction as renewable energy sources.

Barbara Judge has been on the International Advisory Board for the development of nuclear energy in the United Arab Emirates and has led a trade delegation to India to discuss how British companies could take part in the construction of six nuclear reactors at Jaitapur.

In 2016, Barbara Judge was appointed to the International Advisory Group of the Jordanian Atomic Energy Commission.

Barbara Judge has called for a transition arrangement for the UK's membership of Euratom prior to Brexit and a structured relationship with Euratom thereafter.

In 2015, Lady Barbara Judge became the first woman to be appointed as Chairman of the 113-year-old Institute of Directors, the British members' organisation which works in promotion of company directors and corporate governance.

Barbara Judge said she had a "three part mission" to her tenure, using her position to open doors for women to become chief executives; to encourage the IoD to host entrepreneurship; and to encourage older workers to remain in the workforce as both employees and paid mentors to younger generations of entrepreneurs.

Barbara Judge advocated for schools to instil self-belief and optimism in girls, and for female STEM students to be encouraged into traditionally male careers such as engineering.

Barbara Judge believed that the emphasis on placing women into non-executive roles must be augmented by a similar effort to get women into chief executive roles, with companies helping to alleviate the "pressure points" for women with family responsibilities, which often include caring for elderly parents as well as children.

Barbara Judge called for a corporate governance code for large privately owned companies.

Barbara Judge called for the introduction of tax allowances to help adults learn new workplace skills.

Barbara Judge called for the British Government to clarify the rights of EU citizens already in the UK and of British citizens living in the EU, and to clarify the extent to which common rules and standards will be upheld with EU counterparts.

In September 2018, it was announced that Barbara Judge would be succeeded by Charlotte Valeur.

Barbara Judge died on 31 August 2020 from pancreatic cancer at her home in London, at age 73.

In 2010, Barbara Judge was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to the Nuclear and Financial Services Industries.

Barbara Judge appears in lists of influential individuals compiled by Management Today and Debrett's.

In 2017, Lady Barbara Judge was listed as one of the "100 Coolest People in UK Tech" by Business Insider and was given the Forward Ladies Lifetime Achievement award.

Barbara Judge was a well-known commentator and activist for women in business, being the first female director to be appointed to a British merchant bank, the first female executive director at News International and first female chairman of the Institute of Directors.

Barbara Judge argued that women have a moral and social responsibility to help other women.

Barbara Judge has said her interest in the topic stems principally from her mother, but from not having a daughter.