Kate Harriet Alexandra Rock, Baroness Rock, DL (born 9 October 1968), is a British Conservative politician and member of the House of Lords. Formerly Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party with special responsibility for business engagement, she was nominated for a life peerage in August 2015.[1]
Education
editRock was educated at Hanford School, Sherborne School for Girls and Oxford Polytechnic,[2] where she graduated with a BA in publishing and history.[3]
Business career
editBetween August 2014 and November 2017, Rock served as non-executive director and as chairman of the Remuneration Committee of Imagination Technologies plc (a FTSE 250 high technology company, which was sold to Canyon Bridge Partners).[4]
She also served as a non-executive director of First News (UK) Ltd, a national newspaper for young children, between 2014 and February 2017.[5]
On 1 September 2018 she joined the Board of Keller Group plc (the world's largest provider of geotechnical solutions) and is now the senior independent director, serving on the Audit, Nomination, Remuneration and Health, Safety, Environment and Quality Committees.[6]
In October 2022, it was announced that Rock was appointed Chair of the UK infrastructure company Costain Group.[7]
Public service
editBetween 2015 and 2016 Rock served as Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party with special responsibility for business engagement.[8]
She was created Baroness Rock, of Stratton in the County of Dorset on 15 October 2015.[9]
In 2016/2017 she was a Visiting Parliamentary Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford.[10]
Between 2017 and 2018 she was a member of the House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence[11] and since 2019 she has sat on the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology.[12] She has also served since May 2018 as a member of the House of Lords Select Committee on the Rural Economy.[13]
In November 2018 she was appointed as a founding board member of the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, an advisory body set up by the UK Government to seek to maximise the benefits of data-enabled technologies, including artificial intelligence.[14]
She is a founding Ambassador of “Women Supporting Women”, a group at The Prince's Trust committed to changing the lives of young women,[15] and was a member of The Prince's Trust's Philanthropy Advisory Board.[16]
In March 2021 Rock was appointed as a Director and Trustee of The Royal Countryside Fund, which was founded by HM King Charles III.
In February 2022 Rock was appointed as Chair of The Tenancy Working Group, commissioned by the Secretary of State for DEFRA to look at the future of agricultural tenancies. The Rock Review, with recommendations to Government, was published in October 2022.
Rock was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Dorset in November 2023.[17]
Personal life
editHer husband Caspar Rock is Chief Investment Officer at Cazenove Capital Management, the wealth management arm of Schroders in the UK, Channel Islands and Asia.[18]
References
edit- ^ "Dissolution Peerages 2015". Gov.uk. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
- ^ ‘ROCK, Kate Harriet Alexandra’, Who's Who 2016, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2016
- ^ Keller Group web-site, Non-executive directors, Baroness Kate Rock (accessed on 18 October 2018)
- ^ Imagination Technologies Group plc, Annual Report 2017, at page 26
- ^ UK Parliament web-site, Amendments to the Register of Lords’ Interests (accessed on 18 October 2018)
- ^ Keller Group website, Non-executive directors, Baroness Kate Rock (accessed on 18 October 2018)
- ^ "Rock to build on Golby's foundations at Costain". Highways Magazine. 19 October 2022. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
- ^ Bloomberg, Executive Profile – Kate Rock (accessed on 18 October 2018)
- ^ "No. 61387". The London Gazette. 21 October 2015. p. 19762.
- ^ St Antony’s College, Annual Report and Financial Statements, Year ended 31 July 2017, at p.8
- ^ UK Parliament web-site, Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence appointed by House of Lords, 29 June 2017
- ^ House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee website, accessed on 8 April 2020
- ^ UK Parliament web-site, Rural Economy Committee – membership (accessed on 18 October 2018)
- ^ Stellar new board appointed to lead world-first Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, UK Government press release, 20 November 2018
- ^ Prince’s Trust web-site, Women Supporting Women founding Patrons & Ambassadors (accessed on 18 October 2018)
- ^ UK Parliament website, Register of Interests for Baroness Rock, accessed on 8 April 2020
- ^ [1]
- ^ Dylan Lobo, Axa Architas' Caspar Rock joins Cazenove, City Wire, 4 April 2016