Polly Neate

Polly has devoted her career to social justice and social change. As chief executive of the charity Shelter since 2017, she has campaigned in favour of providing more social housing to provide people with a stable home. In 2019 she ensured Shelter played a major role in persuading the government to bring in the tenant fees ban. Polly was awarded the CBE in the New Year’s Honours in 2020 for services to homelessness. She has also served as the chief executive of Women’s Aid from 2013-2017 where she helped secure legislation to criminalise coercive and controlling behaviour. In this role, she sat as an independent member of both the Labour working group on domestic violence policy, and the government’s national oversight group on domestic violence. Prior to that, she worked as the executive director of external relations and communications for Action for Children. She holds an honorary doctorate of science from Bristol University. Her non-executive and voluntary roles include trustee of the Young Women’s Trust; as founding steering group member and then trustee of Agenda: Alliance for Women and Girls at Risk; and as trustee of Immunity, a charity providing legal advice and representation for people living with HIV and AIDS. She won Best CEO on Twitter in 2019’s Social CEOs awards.