Ruth Hunt – Keynote Speaker

Crossbench Peer, Director of Deeds and Words and former CEO of Stonewall (2014-2019), the largest LGBT charity in Europe

Looking for fees and availability for Ruth Hunt?

+1 917 499 4500 Email

Specialist Subjects

LGBT+
Trans
Inclusion
Leadership
Diversity
Culture Transformation
Culture Change
Politics

Topics

Language

English

Biography

At the age of 34, Ruth Hunt became one of the youngest CEOs in the country. At 39, she became the youngest crossbench peer. Baroness Hunt of Bethnal Green is now one of the directors of Deeds and Words, along with her partner Caroline Ellis, working with individuals, organisations, businesses, social movements and communities to help create a shared sense of purpose.

Ruth is also a member of the Steering Group for Change in the House of Lords, a Vice-Chair of the APPG for Global LGBT+ Equality, a Trustee of Engage Britain, and a member of the PCC at St Matthew’s Church in Bethnal Green. Ruth was introduced into the House of Lords in October 2019.

As CEO of Stonewall until 2019, Europe’s largest LGBT equality charity, Ruth purposefully reached deeper into communities, taking campaigns to more people while extending the organisation’s campaigning remit to include trans communities. This change was long over-due. In her 14 years at Stonewall, Ruth worked her way up through the policy and campaigning team, during which time the UK took huge steps towards equality for LGBT people.

Having come out at just 13 in her small community in Cardiff, Ruth would be the first to say that these are not achievements made in spite of being a woman and a lesbian. On the contrary, Ruth’s natural ability to deconstruct and grapple with complex situations and perspectives has been honed by her own identity, and the need to articulate it to others and in defence of persecuted LGBT people around the world. It’s what led her to understand the fundamental link between workplace performance, employment satisfaction, and the space for staff to work and lead in their own way.

Ruth is also a graduate of St Hilda’s College, Oxford, former President of the University of Oxford Student Union and holds an honorary fellowship from Cardiff University, as well as honorary degrees from Keele and Exeter.

Recent testimonials

'Ruth was incredible and we had fantastic feedback - I've had a few emails from people saying how much they enjoyed her talk. She was a lot of fun and to be honest only scratching the surface so it's something I want to explore further. She did a great job!'

Emma-Jane Mark, Employee Experience Manager - EMEA & APAC - EA to Christian Penfold (GM, International), SimilarWeb

‘Ruth was incredible and we had fantastic feedback – I’ve had a few emails from people saying how much they enjoyed her talk. She was a lot of fun and to be honest only scratching the surface so it’s something I want to explore further. She did a great job.’

SimilarWeb, June 2021

‘The talk was incredibly captivating, useful and interesting. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive so far.’

Campbell Lutyens, September 2021

‘She’s such a wonderful speaker; her approach really suited us as an organisation and created space for people to feel comfortable sharing and asking questions. I’ve had lots of great feedback trickle in already. It’s been a real pleasure to work with Ruth, and I am feeling very smug about our choice of speaker!’

Dext, July 2021

‘I just wanted to drop you an email to say thank you so much for speaking at our conference. After wrapping up our activities for Pride Month last week, we continue to be flooded with a deluge of positive reflections and reactions from your talk. It was both an honour to hear such an authentic perspective and personally very inspiring. As a non-binary person whose goal for the last seven years has been to achieve legal recognition for non-binary people in the UK, it was so comforting to hear my concerns and struggles validated. Thank you again, and if there is anything Pride can do for you, or if there is anything I can do for you, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.’

Civil Service, June 2021

‘We are very pleased with the talks that Ruth gave. We also received great comments from our employees. We appreciated Ruth’s professionalism and smooth briefing. She was interested in what we wanted to achieve with our Pride campaign and how she can support our objectives. All in all, big thanks to Ruth and to you for connecting us to her! ‘

Tom Tom, June 2021

Watch Ruth Hunt speaking

Want to book Ruth Hunt as a keynote speaker for your next event?