Margaret Casely-Hayford CBE is a lawyer, governance expert, and champion of diversity, education, and the arts. Since 2025, she has served as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of the Department for Education, and from 2026, as a member of the Oxford Street Development Corporation (OSDC) Board.

Margaret’s career spans senior executive roles including Director of Legal Services and Company Secretary at the John Lewis Partnership, where she influenced important 2014 legislative changes that underpin the now widely used Employee Ownership Trust model; and twenty years as a partner at City law firm Dentons. She is an ambassador for Valloop, an enterprise that supports the transition of entities towards employee ownership. Her non-executive leadership roles have included Chair of Shakespeare’s Globe (2018-2024) and Chair of ActionAid UK, and she served as the first female Chancellor of Coventry University (2017-2024).

A passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, Margaret supports women, BAME, LGBTQ+ individuals and those from disadvantaged backgrounds pursuing board careers, for example through her work as an ambassador for Board Apprentice, and as an adviser to the Black Talent Charter. She’s a strong advocate for good governance and was a member of the Institute of Directors’ Governance Advisory Board. She co-founded the charity Gallery of Living History in response to George Floyd’s death, and serves as a Trustee of the Radcliffe Trust and as Patron of multiple educational and charitable organisations.

Margaret was awarded a CBE in 2018 for services to charity and promoting diversity, and holds an Honorary Fellowship from Somerville College, Oxford.