Fiona Woolf CBE has been elected as the City of London's 686th Lord Mayor. She will become only the second woman to hold the role in its 824-year history, following in the footsteps — or, rather, gilded-carriage tread — of Mary Donaldson, Lord Mayor in 1983.
Ms Woolf comes from the London law firm CMS Cameron McKenna and is an expert on the privatisation of electricity markets and infrastructure. She is also a former president of the Law Society of England and Wales and is a Governor of Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She will assume her year-long role on 8 November, when she heads a parade through the streets of the Square Mile at the Lord Mayor's Show.
As the FT points out, this rare appointment shines a light on gender imbalance in the City, where only six percent of managing directors are female.
See also:
- Interview with current Lord Mayor Roger Gifford for the Londonist Out Loud podcast
- Interview with former Lord Mayor John Stuttard, in which he tells us how to cope with the huge number of banquets
- How to become Lord Mayor of London
