Polly Neate
Polly Neate CBE is chief executive of Shelter, the homelessness and housing charity which defends the right to a safe home.
She is a prominent commentator on housing, women's rights, leadership, and wider social justice issues, and is a trustee of Agenda, the alliance for women and girls at risk, and of the Young Women's Trust. She was previously Chief Executive of Women's Aid, where she helped secure legislation to criminalise coercive and controlling behaviour.
Neate influences governments and campaigns for policy change and social justice. She has regularly appeared in the media and on platforms as diverse as the Oxford Union and the first Women's March in London. Between 2005 and 2013, she was Executive Director of External Relations and Communications at Action for Children, one of the UK's largest charities, where she led major organisational change programmes.
She is a journalist by profession. She has won national awards for journalism and campaigning. She was overall winner of the Social CEOs award for Best Charity CEO in Social Media 2019. She is on Twitter and Instagram. Polly was awarded a CBE in the 2020 New Year Honours List.
She is married to Hugh Thornbery CBE, and has two daughters from a previous marriage. She lives in West London.
