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Dr Suzy Walton

Dr Suzy Walton PhD, the former Vice-President of the Royal Society of Medicine, is a mother of 7 and has sat on over 15 boards. Previously, she was a Senior Civil Servant in the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Defence. She has also been a West End actress and had a career as a broadcast journalist working for Sky News, BBC Television and LBC Radio for whom she had her own travel programme.

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About Dr Suzy Walton

Dr Suzy Walton is the former Vice-President of the Royal Society of Medicine and the former Deputy Chair of the Royal Society of Arts. She has also been Deputy Chair of the University of Westminster and the Internet Watch Foundation – an organisation seeking to eradicate child sexual abuse from the internet.

No stranger to corporate governance, Suzy has sat on the boards of over 15 major organisations including Birmingham Children’s Hospital and ACCA which is the global regulator for the accountancy profession. For ACCA, she also chaired the global Qualifications Board. Suzy’s longest stint on a board has been for the Institute of Directors, where she served for almost a decade until 2022. She has also been a member of the HEFCE council – the former regulator of universities.

Suzy has had an unconventional and unique career.

She left her home town of Nottingham aged 16. She found herself (mostly by luck rather than design) playing the leading role of Lydia the young deaf girl in the award-winning West End show “Children of a Lesser God.” She was with the show for three years.

She then worked as a broadcaster. She was a producer and presenter for Sky News and BBC Television. For several years she also had her own travel programme – Time Off on LBC Radio for which she was the producer, presenter and editor.

Arriving at university somewhat ‘late’ Suzy then achieved BSc and MSc degrees and a career followed as a Senior Civil Servant. She worked in the Ministry of Defence, the Cabinet Office and the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit. She has fond memories of her first role as an Operational Psychologist at the end of a runway in Farnborough. She was also awarded a PhD degree for her research into military suicide.

Suzy left government to pursue a portfolio career and has sat on many boards of national and international organisations. She has retained a strong commitment to government’s agenda however serving on many committees including the State Honours Committee (Cabinet Office), the Science Advisory Council (Defra) and the Ethics Group of the National DNA Database (Home Office).

Currently Suzy is a member of the Independent Reconfiguration Panel who are government’s national advisors on NHS service change and for the Ministry of Justice she hears disciplinary cases involving judges. She is also a member of the Social Security Advisory Committee which scrutinises legislation on the welfare system and in 2025 the Prime Minister appointed Suzy to a policy role in the Cabinet Office.

Suzy describes her greatest achievement as being the proud mother of 7 – the youngest arriving during the Covid pandemic. For many years Suzy was a widow. Her experience of combining a full-time career in many different industries with bringing up a large family makes her a powerful- and humorous  keynote speaker.

 

Speech Topics
  • Corporate governance
  • Diversity
  • Having it all …empowering women to follow their ambitions

Suzy talks in particular about ‘lucky escapes’ – her belief is that you don’t have to have a plan to succeed. Drawing on her experiences on the stage, in the boardroom and as a mother of 7, Suzy talks about how many of the things that turned out well for her happened by chance because of something she didn’t do – a lucky escape if you like.

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Testimonials

"Suzy was a keynote speaker at the HEFMA conference which brings together NHS managers. She shared her story of persistence and adaptability, leading to a variety of board appointments that she has juggled while bringing up a family. Delegates commented on what a breath of fresh air her talk was – uplifting and without a hint of arrogance."

HEFMA Conference 2023

"Suzy spoke at the launch event for IoD’s Code of Conduct for Directors. She took the room by surprise forming a live ‘virtual board’ from the audience to bring to life some of the principles of our code. This approach was well played and was refreshing."

Director General IoD 2024

Dr Suzy Walton News

Feb 01, 2024

International Women's Day: How to Celebrate in 2024

Jan 11, 2024

International Women's Day 2024: Celebrating Women in STEM

May 11, 2023

How Organisations Can Support Women in STEM

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