Ann Limb

Dame Ann Geraldine Limb (born 13 February 1953) is a British educationalist, business leader, charity chair and philanthropist.^[1][2] In September 2015, she became the first woman Chair of The Scout Association^[2] since the organization was founded by Robert Baden Powell in 1907.^[3] Limb also served, in 2023-24, as the 789th High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire, the first Quaker to hold this office.^[4]

Limb was born in Moss Side, Manchester, the daughter of a butcher,^[5] and studied at Marple Hall County Grammar School for Girls, now Marple Hall School, followed by the University of Liverpool.^[1] She is a Fellow Commoner of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge.^[6][7]

From 1976 until 2001, Limb had a career in further education.^[8] In December 1987, aged 34, she was appointed Principal of Milton Keynes College,^[9] at the time the youngest ever FE College Principal. After a decade, she moved to Cambridge Regional College, serving as Principal there until 2000.^[8] She then took up the post as Chief Executive University for Industry, Ufi.^[10]

From 2005 to 2011, Limb was the Chair of the Milton Keynes Partnership and a Ministerial appointee to the Board of Homes England. From 2011 to 2019, Limb was chair of the country's top performing LEP, South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership (SEMLEP).^[11][9]

Between 2017 and 2023, Limb served as the independent business Chair of the UK Innovation Corridor.^[12]

Limb is Chair of IF: Milton Keynes International Festival,^[13] a multi-arts festival that engages people with music and sound in unusual spaces and places. The biennial festival, founded in 2010, runs for 10 days in July across central Milton Keynes.

Limb was a member of the Council of Arts Council England South East Regional Council between 2014 and 2021 and led the bid for Milton Keynes to be European Capital of Culture in 2023.

In 1998 Limb founded the Helena Kennedy Foundation, a social mobility charity supporting access to higher education.^[14][15]

In July 2018, Limb made a major donation to Milton Keynes Gallery to enable the creation of the Limb Family Foyer in the newly extended gallery.^[16]

In 2021 Limb set up the Limb Family Endowment Fund at the Stables Lane Dankworth Centre to engage the widest range of people in music and the arts, particularly giving access to the young, disabled, and people from economically and socially deprived backgrounds.

In 2022 Limb, together with Quakers from Milton Keynes, created the Woburn Sands (Hogsty End) Quaker Burial Ground. Limb made a significant donation to fund the standing stone hewn in Cumbrian slate designed and hand cut by Lida Lopes Cardozo Kindersley which features prominently in the Burial Ground. In February 2023, at his personal request, King Charles III made a private visit to Hogsty End Quaker Burial Ground to meet and thank the Quakers involved and to recognise the uniqueness of this heritage-led regeneration project.

As High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire 2023-4, Limb set up with the help of the Milton Keynes Community Foundation, The Harmony Fund - a High Sheriff's Charitable Legacy Fund for Buckinghamshire to take forward the work of The King's Foundation in Buckinghamshire.

In June 2021 Limb became a trustee of The King's Foundation and in September 2021 was appointed Vice Chair.^[17]

In July 2022 Limb was appointed Chair of the Lloyds Bank Foundation.^[18]

Limb is a member of the WorldSkills UK's Skills taskforce for global Britain,^[19] Chair of the City & Guilds Group's City and Guilds of London Institute,^[20] Chair of the Lifelong Education Institute, part of Res Publica,^[21] Chair of the Board of Governors of The Manchester College, and a board member of the LTE Group.^[22]

From 2016 to 2020 Limb served as Chairman of the Executive Committee, and Deputy Chairman of the General Committee, of her London club, the Athenaeum. She served as Chairman of the General Committee. from 2021-2024 passing the baton to Sir Philip May in June 2024.^[23][24]

Already Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), Limb was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to young people and philanthropy.^{[25][26][27][28]}

She is a deputy lieutenant of the county of Buckinghamshire,^[29] and served a term as the High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire in 2023-24.^[4]

Her academic honours include: Fellow Chartered Institution for Further Education,^[30] Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts FRSA,^[31] Fellow of the City and Guilds of London Institute (FCGI),^[32] Inaugural Fellow of Milton Keynes College,^[33] and Honorary Doctorates from Anglia Ruskin University,^[34][35] University of Bedfordshire,^[36][37] Open University,^[38] Manchester Metropolitan University,^[39] University of Northampton,^[40] Sheffield Hallam University,^[41][42] and University of West London.^[43] She is a fellow-commoner of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge.^[44]

In 2019, Limb was named in the Northern Power Women 2019 Power List as an inspiring role model and agent of change, rooted in the North of England.^[44][45] In the same year she was also celebrated as #1 LGBTQ+ public sector role model on the 2019 "OUTstanding LGBT+ Role Model Lists", supported by Yahoo Finance and published annually by diversity charity INvolve.^[46][47]

Upon taking up her role as Chair of the Scouts in 2015, Limb was interviewed by Emma Barnett on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.^[48] She subsequently appeared as a guest on Radio 4's Great Lives nominating George Fox, founder of Quakerism.^[49] In December 2023, Limb appeared on BBC2's popular quiz programme, hosted by Amol Rajan, the Christmas University Challenge as part of the University of Liverpool alumni team.^[50]

Having entered into a civil partnership on 21 December 2006, Limb married her partner Dr. Margaret Cook, with whom she has shared her life since 1991, on 11 May 2019^[51] and lives with her in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.^[52]

• Official website
• Patron of Educational Wealth Fund (2018)