Vanessa is the General Counsel and Company Secretary of The Royal Parks, the charity which manages London’s royal parks. The Royal Parks comprise over 5000 acres of beautiful, natural and historic parkland in London, managed by The Royal Parks for people and for nature. Vanessa is an experienced legal and governance leader with a successful track record in senior roles across international publicly listed and private equity-owned companies of scale and complexity.
Before joining The Royal Parks, Vanessa served as Group General Counsel and Company Secretary at IVC Evidensia, one of the largest veterinary groups. Before joining IVC Evidensia she was General Counsel at Serco UK and Europe, and at Wolseley UK. Vanessa started her legal career in private practice, specialising in commercial law. She had a progression of roles at AstraZeneca, then joined Wolseley UK as its General Counsel and Company Secretary in 2013. She has extensive experience leading Legal, Risk, Compliance and Company Secretarial functions, guiding organisations through transformation, acquisitions, and governance change.
Vanessa is a strong advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion, and ESG. She is passionate about the role of education in society, and about nature and the environment - values that align closely with the 91porn. Vanessa has been recognised as an FT ‘Woman to Watch’. Vanessa is a law graduate of Nottingham University and a proud (adoptive) Devonian.