The ‘reformed economist’: who is the new chief tasked with saving the CBI?
She’s the woman with the unenviable task of assuming the leadership of Britain’s largest business group after a misconduct scandal.
Rain Newton-Smith has been appointed director general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Her predecessor, Tony Danker, was sacked after an independent investigation into his workplace conduct.
Newton-Smith will be familiar to the CBI’s employees, and to the 190,000 British businesses it claims to represent. The 47-year-old was the group’s long-serving chief economist, from August 2014 until March this year, when she left to join the lender Barclays as a managing director, responsible for strategy and policy, sustainability and environment, social and governance (ESG).
Just a month ago, Newton-Smith expressed her excitement at her new role on the professional networking site LinkedIn, thanking Barclays for the “opportunity to combine personal and professional passions at a great institution”. This appeared a good fit for someone whose Twitter profile says she is “passionate about things climate and biodiversity”.
However, in a what is likely to be a blow for her new employer, itself a CBI member, Newton-Smith is heading straight back out of the door after being asked to lead the business group at a critical time.
The CBI’s decision to task someone with such a longstanding connection to the organisation with revamping its culture may raise eyebrows.
The Guardian understands that she has been appointed to the top job without a formal recruitment process, and will face a daunting in-tray once she returns to the organisation.
The independent inquiry into allegations of sexual misconduct by senior figures at the CBI, first reported by the Guardian, has not ended with Danker’s departure, and
Read more on theguardian.com
