Margaret Henrietta Augusta Casely-Hayford CBE was born on 1959 and is a British lawyer, businesswoman and public figure who is active in the voluntary sector.
20 Facts About Margaret Casely-Hayford
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Margaret Casely-Hayford is at the forefront of working to create diversity on boards and is joint-manager of a rap artist and digital media entrepreneur.
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Margaret Casely-Hayford was born in London, England, into the prominent Ghanaian Casely-Hayford family: she is the daughter of Victor Casely-Hayford, an accountant who had trained as a barrister, her grandfather was the Gold Coast lawyer, writer and politician J E Casely Hayford, and her brothers are historian Gus Casely-Hayford, designer Joe Casely-Hayford and Peter Casely-Hayford, formerly managing director of TV production company Twenty Twenty.
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Margaret Casely-Hayford was educated at Streatham and Clapham High School, a private day school for girls; she studied law at Somerville College, Oxford, graduating in 1982, and did her Bar finals at the Inns of Court School of Law, being called to the Bar in 1983.
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Margaret Casely-Hayford worked for 20 years with the law firm Dentons, where she was made a Partner, becoming the first black woman to hold such a position in a City firm.
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Margaret Casely-Hayford specialised in planning matters, and in 1995 wrote a book entitled Practical Planning: Permission and the Application.
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Margaret Casely-Hayford serves on the Metropolitan Police panel overseeing the investigation into police corruption.
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Margaret Casely-Hayford is in the forefront of working to create diversity on boards.
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Margaret Casely-Hayford was on the Board of the British Retail Consortium for four years to 2014.
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Margaret Casely-Hayford became Chair of the charity ActionAid UK in 2014, and in 2016 she became a member-nominated Director of The Co-op.
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Margaret Casely-Hayford is an ambassador of Board Apprentice and Chairs the advisory board of Ultra Education, working to develop young entrepreneurs, and a non-executive director of WetZebra Media.
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Margaret Casely-Hayford is a trustee of The Radcliffe Trust, one of Britain's oldest charities supporting classical music performance and training,.
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Margaret Casely-Hayford chaired the diversity review conducted by CILIP in 2017 into the awarding of the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals.
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In July 2017, Margaret Casely-Hayford was named the new Chancellor of Coventry University, the first woman to hold the position.
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Margaret Casely-Hayford was appointed for a second term in 2020 and stood down in 2024.
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In 2024, Margaret Casely-Hayford was named as a candidate in the running to be Chancellor of Oxford University.
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In 2016, Margaret Casely-Hayford was awarded an honorary doctorate by Middlesex University.
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Margaret Casely-Hayford was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2018 Birthday Honours, for charitable services in the UK and abroad.
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In October 2019, it was announced that Margaret Casely-Hayford would be featured in the 2020 Powerlist as one of the 100 most influential black people in the United Kingdom.
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In 2021, Margaret Casely-Hayford was elected a Master of the Bench at Gray's Inn.