DAME SHARON WHITE, 55, BUSINESSWOMAN AND CHAIR OF THE JOHN LEWIS PARTNERSHIP

White’s career in the civil service took her to the British Embassy in Washington; the World Bank, where she was senior economist; and the Downing Street Policy Unit as an adviser during the Blair government. White became director general at the Ministry of Justice from 2009-2011 and was chosen to supervise a review into the Treasury’s response to the 2007-2008 financial crisis in her role as director general of public spending. White made history in 2013 when she assumed the role of second permanent secretary of the treasury – the first Black person and the second woman to have been given the permanent secretary title. It wasn’t long before she was offered the position of chief executive of communications regulator Ofcom in March 2015. After nearly five years at the top of Ofcom, White was announced as the sixth (and first ever female) chair of the John Lewis Partnership and took up the role in February 2020 at the age of 52. She was also appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for public service in the New Year Honours list of 2020.

What advice would you give to women who feel it’s too late to find success?

‘Your 50s is the time of life when you’re more confident – you know yourself, what matters to you and what you are good at. And if you’re a parent (I have two teenagers), your children are likely to be a bit older, which may afford you more freedom. I’ve found that skills developed in my 20s, 30s and 40s in a different sector are transferable, because the values behind what I have done have been consistent.’