10 Facts About Heather Melville

Heather Melville grew up in Hornsey, north London, and she was educated at the IBM Business School, Hampshire.

Heather Melville is a diversity, inclusion leader and founder and global chair of RBS Focused Women's Network.

Heather Melville is recognized in Financial Times 2016 inaugural UPstanding100 Executive BAME Power List and Financial Times 2017 Empower 100 ethnic minority leaders 100.

In 2017 Heather Melville was recognized and honoured with an Order of the British Empire for her 'services to Gender Equality' and was included in the 2019 edition of the Powerlist, ranking the 100 most influential Black Britons.

Heather Melville is the founder and global chair of RBS Focused Women's Network, which in 2016 had about 12,000 members in 33 countries who are managed by volunteers.

Also in 2017, Heather Melville was awarded an honorary doctorate from Portsmouth University, recognising her influence and impact on diversity in business.

In 2021 Heather Melville received the President's Medal for leadership from the British Academy of Management.

Heather Melville holds a number of trustee positions, is chair of CMI Women, NED, Enfield Enterprise, a Patron of Women in Banking and Finance and is a member of the Executive Leadership Council, a global network of C-suite leaders.

In 2022 it was announced that Heather Melville was to become the seventh chancellor of the University of York, due to her work to "support a real culture of fairness, equality and justice".

Heather Melville was appointed on 18 January 2023 in a ceremony where she bestowed honorary degrees on the actor Colin Salmon and the banker Dame Alison Rose.