Judith Mayhew Jonas
Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas, DBE (born 18 October 1948[1]) is a New Zealand-born British lawyer, local government politician and academic. She is currently the Chancellor of Bishop Grosseteste University, Lincoln, England, and has been the first woman to hold a number of public roles in the United Kingdom such as Provost of King's College, Cambridge and chair of the Royal Opera House.
Early life
Born and educated in New Zealand, Judith Mayhew was the daughter of Bill and Joyce Mayhew.[2] She attended Corstorphine Primary School in Dunedin and Otago Girls' High School graduating LLM from the University of Otago.[3]
Career
She lectured at Otago before moving to the UK as a lecturer in law at the University of Southampton and then King's College London, from 1976 to 1989, where she set up and became director of the Anglo-French Law Degree (Sorbonne), the first joint degree in Europe.[3][4][5]
In 1986, she entered private practice as an employment lawyer, rising to become special adviser to the chairman at Clifford Chance, a global law firm.[3] In 2006 she was appointed to the board of directors of Merrill Lynch.[6]
She was closely involved in the running of the City of London from 1986. In that year she was elected to the City of London Corporation and chaired the Corporation's Policy and Resources Committee from 1996–2003. From 2001 she was City and Business Advisor to Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London.[3][4]
Mayhew Jonas has also served on a number of boards of educational and cultural institutions. In 1999 she was appointed chair of governors at Birkbeck, University of London.[5] She served as provost of King's College, Cambridge from 2003 to 2005, the first woman to do so.[2][7]
She was also the first woman to chair the Royal Opera House.[2][4]
She is a trustee of the Imperial War Museum and of the Urban Land Institute, and co-chair of the British Dutch Dialogues, the Apeldoorn Conference.[2][6] [8]
In 2008 she became Provost (Chancellor) of Bishop Grosseteste University in Lincoln, England.[2][9]
Mayhew Jonas features in a film series, Dreamcatchers, about successful expatriate New Zealanders.[10]
Honours and awards
Mayhew Jonas was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Otago in 1998. She received the DBE in 2002 "for services to the City of London".[5] In 2004 she was made New Zealander of the Year in Britain.[11] She was Global Award Winner at the New Zealand Women of Influence Awards in 2015.[3]
Personal
She married Christopher Jonas, an English property consultant, in 2003.[4]
References
- ^ "Who's Who". An Annual Biographical Dictionary. London, UK: A & C Black: 1410. 2001.
- ^ a b c d e de Lore, Clare (16 March 2017). "Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas. Little girls didn't dream about chairing boards". Noted. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c d e "Trailblazing women" (PDF). Otago Law. Faculty of Law newsletter. Summer 2015. pp. 10, 12.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c d "The very New Zealand Dame" (PDF). University of Otago Magazine. No. 6. October 2003. p. 18–20.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c "Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas — Birkbeck, University of London". Birkbeck, University of London. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b "Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas DBE". Chatham House. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "First female to head King's quits after two unpopular years". The Independent. 19 July 2005. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Prime Minister extends term of Imperial War Museum Trustee". GOV.UK. 6 October 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Chancellor & Vice-Chancellor | Bishop Grosseteste University". www.bishopg.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Series about Kiwi expats' success to aid education". Otago Daily Times Online News. 4 July 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Leathley, Siobhan (1 February 2013). "NZ summer still special for trail-blazer". NZ Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
External links
- Cambridge University website; accessed 18 February 2017.
- Profile, chathamhouse.org; accessed 18 February 2017.
- 1948 births
- Living people
- British legal scholars
- New Zealand academics
- University of Paris faculty
- People associated with Birkbeck, University of London
- People associated with Imperial College London
- Academics of King's College London
- Provosts of King's College, Cambridge
- University of Otago faculty
- University of Otago alumni
- New Zealand Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- New Zealand expatriates in the United Kingdom
- Merrill (company) people
- People associated with Bishop Grosseteste University
- New Zealand Women of Influence Award recipients