Name: Siobhan Bénita
Company: Warwick University
Title: Director of Policy and Strategy for the Department of Economics
Siobhan was a senior civil servant with over 15 years government experience until she resigned in January 2012 to run as an independent candidate in the Mayor of London election. She secured around 250,000 votes which was a remarkable achievement for a previously unknown independent with no party machine.
Siobhan devoted a lot of her time in the Civil Service to improving gender equality and in 2010 she founded Tabelle, a network for women working in and with the public sector. Since the election, Siobhan continues to work with many organisations across London. She regularly provides political commentary on the radio, speaks publicly on the need for more women in UK public life and provides training to civil servants on how to work with minsters.
Siobhan has recently become the Director of Policy and Strategy for the Department of Economics at Warwick University where she is leading work to establish a new Policy Lab. She is also head of public sector relations for Microlinkpc.
Siobhan was born in Wimbledon, lives in New Malden and is married with two daughters.
