Mary Macleod

As a trusted leadership advisor to Boards, Mary chairs the Board & CEO Practice at August Leadership. She focuses on CEO, Board Director and Non-Executive appointments, as well as succession and Board/leadership effectiveness.

Mary has worked across industry sectors and internationally, assessing and placing CEOs and Board Directors, bringing a deep understanding of talent, business strategy, impact, purpose, and inclusion.

As a champion for board diversity, Mary advocates the importance of building and developing a diverse executive pipeline that enables individuals to reach their potential to deliver enhanced business outcomes. She represents the UK on the G20 Empower Alliance, sharing best practices globally on women in the workplace.

Mary is a sought-after keynote speaker and has published broadly on diversity and the executive pipeline for female leaders, as well as initiating Charters for Women in several sectors. She is the Ambassador of the London Women’s Forum which focuses on developing senior female executives in the financial services sector into the c-suite and boards. In addition, she is a Trustee of Career Ready, a UK charity, inspiring and preparing the next generation in deprived communities for the world of work.

Prior to being a Partner at August Leadership, Mary was in the Board Practice at Korn Ferry and on their UK Leadership team, as the founder of their Government, NFP, and Social Enterprise Practice. She also served as the Global Operations COO, Chief of Staff, and Head of Management and Control for ABN AMRO investment bank. Mary started her career in human performance consulting and change management at Accenture, with expertise in leadership development, implementing major technology solutions, and delivering strategic organization/culture change transformation programmes.

Mary previously was a Member of the UK Parliament, advisor to Secretaries of States and Her Majesty The Queen. She was a Commissioner on the UK Social Integration Commission and worked internationally with the UN Commission on the Status of Women. As an activist, she participated in several campaigns in Rwanda, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Liberia on violence against women and girls, female foeticide, maternal health, school twining, forced child marriage and the economic empowerment of women.