Crossbench peer and former head of MI5 Eliza Manningham-Buller is guest speaker at next week’s ICAEW West of England annual business dinner – one of the largest gatherings of its kind in the region’s business calendar.
The black-tie event, which takes place on Thursday at Ashton Gate Stadium, traditionally brings together around 400 representatives from the region’s accountancy and professional services sectors and wider business community. 
Last year’s dinner, with British astronaut Major Tim Peake in the after-dinner speaking slot, was the ICAEW’s first for two years as a result of the pandemic.
This year the professional organisation’s reputation for booking high-profile guest speakers with broad appeal continues with Eliza Manningham-Buller, pictured.
Baroness Manningham-Buller serves on the Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology, is a president of the respected foreign policy think tank Chatham House, and chair of the Wellcome Trust, the UK’s biggest charity overseeing funding for scientific research into all aspects of health and wellbeing, from infection to mental health, as well as responding to Covid-19.
She was named by Forbes on its The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women list and was chosen to deliver the prestigious BBC Reith Lectures. Her analysis of the theme, Securing Freedom, also formed the basis of her book of the same title.
As director-general of MI5, she led the domestic intelligence service through significant change, expansion and scrutiny as it dealt with the growth of Al-Qaida terrorism after 9/11 and in response to the 7/7 attacks in London.
Prior to that she worked in various roles in Washington during the first Gulf War, as well as being responsible, at separate times, for work on Irish terrorism, surveillance, technical collection, finance and IT.
In her speech, Baroness Manningham-Buller, who also runs a small sheep farm in Wales, is expected to reflect on 20 years as the leader of two very different organisations which share many traits and goals in managing the unpredictable and trying to keep millions safe.
