Rt Hon Jacqui Smith

Jacqui Smith is currently Chair of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Sandwell Children's Trust and the newly formed Birmingham Hospitals Alliance. She is Vice-Chair of the Birmingham and Solihull sustainability and transformation plan board.

Jacqui grew up in Worcestershire and, after reading philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University, she returned to the county and had a successful teaching career for 11 years in Worcestershire schools.

In 1997, Jacqui was elected as the MP for Redditch and served for 13 years. After a period on the Treasury Select Committee, she was appointed as a minister in 1999 and became one of the longest-serving ministers in the Labour government. In 2007, Jacqui was appointed as the first female home secretary.

Jacqui is also Chair of the Precious Trust – a Birmingham-based charity supporting girls at risk of gang violence – and of the Lunar Society. She is a trustee of the Kings Fund and also works in Jordan and Egypt supporting parliamentary and political development.