Baroness Jo Valentine

Baroness Jo Valentine is the Chair of Heathrow Southern Railway Limited to which she brings vast experience from the worlds of business, regeneration and politics.  Jo is a serving Crossbench peer in the House of Lords to which she was appointed in 2005.

Jo is especially well known for her work with London First which she first joined in 1997 as Managing Director, serving as Chief Executive from 2003 until 2016. Her role centred on representing to national and local government the most pressing issues affecting London’s leading businesses, including vital and successful advocacy for Crossrail and campaigning for “Let Britain Fly”.

After beginning her career in corporate finance at Barings, Jo led the planning and corporate finance department at BOC Group in the early 1990s. She set up and ran ‘The Blackburn Partnership’ in the late 1980’s and was a National Lottery Commissioner from 2000 to 2005.

Jo’s career also includes serving as:

• Special Projects Director for Business in the Community – Jo is currently leading the development of a regeneration plan for Blackpool
• Council Member of UCL since 2014, currently as Vice Chair
• Previously a Non-Executive Director of High Speed Two (HS2) Limited
• Previously a Board Director at Peabody Trust

In Parliament, Jo has served on the House of Lords Europe Sub-Committee on Transport, providing pre-legislative scrutiny of European infrastructure proposals.

Jo is an Honorary Fellow of St Hugh’s College, Oxford and Birkbeck, and holds honorary degrees from Roehampton University and the University of London.