Martha Lane Fox

Martha Lane Fox     (businesswoman, deep state functionary?)
Born	10 February 1973
Nationality	UK
Alma mater	Westminster School, Magdalen College (Oxford)
Parents	Robin Lane Fox
Member of	House of Lords/COVID-19 Committee, WEF/Young Global Leaders/2012
On the board of Twitter. Member of the UK Joint Committee on National Security Strategy. Chaired the House of Lords COVID-19 Committee.  Chair In office 11 June 2020 - 28 April 2022 Employer House of Lords/COVID-19 Committee  Chancellor of the Open University In office 12 March 2014 - Present  Member of the House of Lords  In office 26 March 2013 - Present

Martha Lane Fox, Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho, is a British businesswoman who chaired the House of Lords/COVID-19 Committee.

She co-founded Last Minute during the dotcom boom of the early 2000s and has subsequently served on government digital projects, including as a member of the Digital Advisory Board and the Joint Committee on National Security Strategy. She sits on the boards of Twitter, WeTransfer, as well as being a trustee of The Queen's Commonwealth Trust. She previously served on the board of Channel 4. She was selected a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2012.

She entered the House of Lords as a crossbencher on 26 March 2013, and was appointed Chancellor of the Open University on 12 March 2014.

Early life

Born in London, Lane Fox is the daughter of academic and gardening writer Robin Lane Fox, the scion of an English landed gentry family seated at Bramham Park. She was educated at Oxford High School, an all-girls independent school in Oxford, and at Westminster School, a public school in London with a mixed-sex sixth form. She read Ancient and Modern History at Magdalen College, Oxford.

Career

Lane Fox showed interest in acting and prison governorship but instead joined information technology and media consulting firm Spectrum, where she met Brent Hoberman. In 1998, Lane Fox and Hoberman founded Last Minute, an online travel and gift business. She stepped down as managing director in 2003. Meanwhile, the company survived the dot-com crash to be bought out by Sabre Holdings in 2005 for £577m.

Following her departure from Last Minute, Lane Fox was tipped to take over day-to-day operations at Selfridges but was involved in an auto accident before she could assume that role. At the suggestion of advertising executive Julian Douglas, Fox teamed up with Nick Thistleton to launch karaoke company Lucky Voice. In 2007, Lane Fox joined the board of Marks & Spencer.

From 2009 to 2013 she was the Digital Champion for the UK and helped to create the Government Digital Service – this team launched gov.uk, and was given the task of spearheading a two-year campaign to improve computer literacy. The following year she was assigned to establish the Digital Public Services Unit within the Cabinet Office. and invited to sit on the Cabinet Office Efficiency and Reform Board. The following month Lane Fox was honoured by David Cameron for her "Manifesto for a Networked Nation", a challenge to increase British internet engagement. She resigned from her position as Digital Champion in late 2013.

She entered the House of Lords as a crossbencher on 26 March 2013, becoming its youngest female member. In her maiden speech, she addressed the need for digital literacy in all sectors of the economy. That same year the Open University appointed her Chancellor. In the run-up to the Scottish independence referendum of 2014, Lane Fox signed an open letter opposing Scottish independence.

In 2017, Lane-Fox was appointed a member of the Joint Committee on National Security Strategy. In 2018 she was appointed Non-Executive Director of Chanel as well as Donmar Warehouse and a Trustee of the Queen's Commonwealth Trust. Lane Fox continues to be a Patron of AbilityNet, Reprieve, Camfed and Just for Kids Law. She joined the board of social network Twitter in June 2016.In 2020, Lane Fox was appointed to the board of directors for the company WeTransfer.

In October 2019, she was named by media and marketing publication The Drum as the most influential woman in Britain's digital sector from the past quarter of a century.

Charity work

Lane-Fox is an advocate for such causes as human rights, women's rights, and social justice. In 2007 she founded Antigone, a grant-making trust to support charities based in the United Kingdom. She is a patron of Reprieve, a legal action charity, and CAMFED, an organization dedicated to fighting poverty, HIV, and AIDS in rural Africa through an emphasis on education of young women. She is also patron of the charity Just for Kids Law, which supports children and young people in London, as well as fighting for wider reform on behalf of young people across the UK.

When the telecommunications company Orange withdrew its longstanding support for the Orange Prize, Lane Fox was one of several benefactors, along with Cherie Blair and Joanna Trollope, who offered to sustain the contest until another major sponsor could be found.

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References

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