Ann Cormack MBE

Latterly Global Executive Head of HR for the De Beers Group, Ann retired from her full-time executive career to focus on Non-Executive roles in 2021. She serves as a Non-Executive Director on the Supervisory Board of the UK government’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, and as a Trustee & Council Member of Chatham House, the Royal Institute for International Affairs, serving on several committees for each organisation.

The first 20 years of her career were spent working for Shell International, holding various executive positions, latterly running Shell’s global internal consultancy B2B team and the European Fleet Fuel Cards business.

Moving to the public sector, Ann then managed change across government from the Department for Trade and Industry, as Managing Director in the UK’s Small Business Service, before returning to the private sector in 2007 to take up the role of Chief Executive of a biofuel joint venture 50 per cent owned by BP. As BP’s strategy changed, and the business was sold, she became Managing Director for Energy at Xyntéo. In 2013, she joined Rolls-Royce plc and served as Director International until moving to the De Beers Group in 2017. Previous Non-Executive roles included serving on the British Institute for Energy Economics Council 2005-2016 (and as Council Chair 2006-07), as Board member of the CBI International Advisory Board and the UK India Business Council, and as Audit and Risk Committee member at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office 2011 – 2019.

Awarded an MBE for services to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 2020, Ann holds an MA in modern languages from Edinburgh University and a post-graduate Diploma in Russian from Strathclyde University. Her interests include swimming, scuba diving, tennis, skiing and occasionally fishing.