Lord Dr Michael Hastings of Scarisbrick CBE is an Independent Peer in the House of Lords. He is the Chairman of SOAS University, London and the recent Chancellor of Regent’s University London; he is the Professor of Leadership at the Stephen R Covey Institute, Huntsman Business School, USA; a Non-Executive Director at Saxton Bampfylde, the Executive Search firm and is the recent Chair of the London Chamber of Commerce Black Business Association & a former director/trustee of the National Institute of Teaching as well as being currently an NED on Cornerstone VC Fund. He is the Patron of The Black British Theatre Award. He is the new Chair of the Pathway Fund – a dormant assets fund for black & minoritized communities.
He is also a Vice President at UNICEF UK, an Ambassador for Tear Fund and Chair of the Council of ZANE (Zimbabwe Aid) and a former trustee for the Africa Philanthropy Foundation. Lord Hastings was formerly Head of Public Affairs at the BBC and their first head of Corporate Social Responsibility 1996-2006 having done live political presenting for two years previously. He then moved to KPMG as the Global Head of Citizenship for KPMG International 2006 – 2019 and was a Trustee of the Vodafone Group Foundation 2008-2019 and subsequently remains a Governor of the Vodafone/Safaricom M-PESA Academy in Nairobi for 600+ of Kenya’s poorest children. He also served as an NED on BT’s Responsible Business Board 2007-2016. He is an enthusiastic advocate for the SDG’s-the 17 Sustainable Development Goals the world must reach by 2030 to give dignity to all.
Lord Hastings began his career as a teacher in 1980 having graduated in Theology from the London School of Theology in 1979 and then from Westminster College Oxford in Education in 1980 & then from 1986 worked across government agencies on policies to build racial equality, workforce development, and safer and more effective crime prevention strategies. He was the founder and Chairman of Crime Concern from 1988 to 2009 and then founded CATCH22 as a merger and remains Vice President and he was the longest serving Commissioner for Racial Equality from 1990 to 1999 and the first Black member of the Metropolitan Police Committee from 1994. He is the co-founder of My Brothers Keeper – a voluntary direct engagement work started in HMP Swaleside 9 years ago and serving 12 prisons from YOI to Cat A,B &C prisons.
He was conferred with a CBE for his services to crime reduction in 2003; a Peerage in 2005; The UNICEF Global Award in 2005 for his tireless work effective positive solutions for Africa’s children; a Doctorate in Civil Law from the University of Kent, Canterbury in 2014 in recognition for his leadership at KPMG, the BBC and for his work in international development and corporate responsibility and in 2019 was the first ever recipient of the Stephen R Covey Leadership Award for a life built on principles, values and pragmatic delivery.