Mary Francis
Mary Francis née George, CBE LVO, born 1948, is a non-executive director of Swiss Re, the global reinsurance group, and of Ensco plc, a global provider of offshore drilling services to the petroleum industry. After graduating she became research assistant to Professor Max Beloff at All Souls' College, Oxford. Subsequently she held various non-executive mandates and senior positions in the City of London, HM Treasury and the Royal Household.
She was Private Secretary to the Prime Minister (with responsibility for Domestic and Economic Affairs) 1992–95; and Deputy Private Secretary to Queen Elizabeth II February–June 1999, having been Assistant Private Secretary 1996–99.[1][2]
Growing up in Petts Wood, Kent, she was educated at James Allen's Girls' School, Dulwich, London, and Newnham College, University of Cambridge, where she obtained an MA. She joined HM Treasury and became a senior civil servant, holding the post of Financial Counsellor at the British Embassy in Washington, DC 1990–92.
She was Director-General of the Association of British Insurers 1999–2005 and a member of the Court of the Bank of England 2001–2007. She has also been a non-executive director of St. Modwen Properties, Alliance & Leicester plc, Cable & Wireless Communications plc and Aviva plc.
She is senior advisor to Chatham House, and an ambassador for the Almeida Theatre.