Barbara Judge

Barbara Thomas Judge, Lady Judge (née Singer; 28 December 1946 31 August 2020), previously known as Barbara (singer) Thomas, was an American-British lawyer and businesswoman, based in London with dual American-British citizenship.

She was the first female chairman of the Institute of Directors, a previous chairman of the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), the chairman of the United Kingdom's fraud prevention service Cifas, a chairman of the Pension Protection Fund and a British business ambassador on behalf of UK Trade & Investment.

She was a trustee of several cultural and charitable institutions and a former trustee of the Royal Academy of Arts and Dementia UK.

She was often considered one of the UK's most prominent business executives, featuring in power lists compiled by Management Today, Debrett's and BBC Radio Four's Woman's Hour, the latter describing her as "one of the best-connected women in Britain".

Barbara Sue Singer was born on 28 December 1946 at Doctor's Hospital in Manhattan, New York City, the daughter of Marcia (Bosniak) and Jules H. Singer.

Her father owned a small business; her mother was associate dean of students at New York Institute of Technology.

Singer grew up in Saddle Rock, New York.

Judge frequently cited her mother as the most significant influence on her life and work.

In her own work, Marcia Singer devised courses helping women into work, advising them "wear white gloves" – which meant dress appropriately – write a CV, and answer advertisements even though they said "men wanted".

Singer remained in work until she was 88 but was diagnosed with dementia soon after retirement.

This experience shaped Judge's belief that remaining in work is crucial to longevity and happiness in old age.

She has said that her mother taught her and many other women that a woman should work "not because they were poor or alone … [but] because they had a brain and they should use it and they should earn their own money, because money was independence".

Her mother also taught that women "can have a serious career and also be a serious mother".

In an interview with CNN, Judge said, "Growing up, my milieu was like Betty Draper in Mad Men – the one who goes to a good college, marries a nice guy and lives in Connecticut and has two children and slowly goes mad, and that could have been me if my mother hadn't told me there was another way."

Her personal ambition was to "...die at [her] desk"

She earned a B.A. degree in medieval history from the University of Pennsylvania in 1966, writing her thesis on John, King of England.

She worked her way through university as a model, tutor, computer programmer and occasional waitress.

She also met her first husband, Theodore Kozloff, there.

In 1969, she graduated from New York University School of Law, where she specialised in tax law, finishing with a Juris Doctor in 1969.

She was a member of the Order of the Coif, a John Norton Pomeroy Scholar, a former editor of the New York University Law Review and the recipient of the Jefferson Davis Prize in Public Law.

While at NYU School of Law, she received American Jurisprudence Prizes in Excellence in 15 out of 28 subjects; these prizes were awarded to the student with the highest grade in the course.

Her first job after graduation was in 1969 with the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, where she worked as a corporate lawyer.

In 1973, she joined the law firm Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays, and Handler, where she specialised in corporate law and financial transactions, becoming a partner in 1978.

At that time she married Allen L. Thomas.

In 1980, Barbara Thomas was appointed by President Carter as a member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Washington, D.C., for a five-year term.

Her appointment was widely reported, being the youngest-ever SEC commissioner and only the second woman in the role.

She was instrumental in opening U.S. capital markets to foreign companies.

She also negotiated on behalf of the U.S. government to open the Tokyo Stock Exchange to foreign members, against opposition from some US financial commentators, who believed that American investors would be uninterested in Japanese stocks.

She later described these achievements as among the most significant of her career.

Later, as Lady Judge, she was a deputy chairman of The Financial Reporting Council.

She also worked in various capacities for the British Government's Department of Trade and Industry and its Department for Constitutional Affairs, as well as a public member of the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants.

In April 2010, Judge was appointed chairman of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), which provides compensation to employees with pension schemes in bankrupt firms.

She was the first woman to serve in the role.

She was reappointed as chairman in 2013 and completed her second (and maximum) term in July 2016.

She advocated that the pension regulator be given the power to block companies from deals that would harm pension scheme members, referring to Sir Philip Green's sale of British Home Stores to Dominic Chappell.

Judge was a supporter of auto-enrolment in pension schemes.

In May 2016, Lady Judge was announced as the chairman-elect of Cifas, the UK's fraud prevention service.

Cifas is a not-for-profit company working to protect businesses, charities, public bodies and individuals from financial crime.

She succeeded Ken Cherrett in September 2016.

In February 2018, Judge was appointed chair of the Astana Financial Services Authority in Kazakhstan.