Martha Lane Fox

Martha Lane Fox, Baroness Lane-Fox of SohoTemplate:Refn (born 10 February 1973) is a British businesswoman, philanthropist and public servant. She co-founded Last Minute during the dotcom boom of the early 2000s and has subsequently served on public service digital projects. She sits on the boards of WeTransfer and Chanel, as well as being a trustee of The Queen's Commonwealth Trust. She previously served on the board of Channel 4.<ref name=bottomline/><ref name="Leighton2011">Template:Cite book</ref>

She entered the House of Lords as a crossbencher on 26 March 2013, becoming its youngest female member;<ref name="BBC News">Template:Cite news</ref> she was appointed Chancellor of the Open University on 12 March 2014.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In October 2019, she was named by media and marketing publication The Drum as the most influential woman in Britain's digital sector from the past quarter of a century.<ref name="thedrum.com">Template:Cite web</ref>

Education and early life

Born in London, Lane Fox is the daughter of classicist, ancient historian from Oxford University and gardening correspondent of the Financial Times Robin Lane Fox,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the scion of an English landed gentry family seated at Bramham Park. She was privately educated at Oxford High School, an all-girls in Oxford, and at Westminster School in London with a coeducational sixth form. She studied Ancient and Modern History at the University of Oxford where she was an undergraduate student of Magdalen College, Oxford graduating with a lower second class honours Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree; as per tradition, her BA was promoted to a Master of Arts (MA) degree.<ref name=did>Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

Lane Fox joined information technology and media consulting firm Spectrum,<ref name=bottomline>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> where she met Brent Hoberman. In 1998, Lane Fox and Hoberman founded Last Minute, an online travel and gift business.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She stepped down as managing director in 2003. Last Minute was bought by Sabre Holdings in 2005.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Lady Lane-Fox with her father Robin Lane Fox, 2013

Following her departure from Last Minute, Lane Fox was tipped to take over day-to-day operations at Selfridges but was involved in a car accident before she could assume that role.<ref name= "EKing">Template:Cite web</ref> At the suggestion of advertising executive Julian Douglas, Fox teamed up with Nick Thistleton to launch karaoke company Lucky Voice.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2007, Lane Fox joined the board of Marks & Spencer.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

From 2009 to 2013, she was the Digital Champion for the UK and helped to create the Government Digital Service – this team launched gov.uk, and was given the task of spearheading a two-year campaign to improve computer literacy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The following year she was assigned to establish the Digital Public Services Unit within the Cabinet Office. <ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and invited to sit on the Cabinet Office Efficiency and Reform Board.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The following month Lane Fox was honoured by David Cameron for her "Manifesto for a Networked Nation", a challenge to increase British internet engagement.Template:Citation needed She resigned from her position as Digital Champion in late 2013.<ref name="Computer World">Template:Cite web</ref>

She entered the House of Lords as a crossbencher on 26 March 2013, becoming its youngest female member.<ref name="BBC News"/> In her maiden speech, she addressed the need for digital literacy in all sectors of the economy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> That same year the Open University appointed her Chancellor.<ref name="Lane Fox Chancellor of OU">Template:Cite web</ref> In the run-up to the Scottish independence referendum of 2014, Lane Fox signed an open letter opposing Scottish independence.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2017, Lady Lane-Fox was appointed a member of the Joint Committee on National Security Strategy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2018, she was appointed Non-Executive Director of Chanel as well as Donmar Warehouse and a Trustee of the Queen's Commonwealth Trust.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Lane Fox continues to be a Patron of AbilityNet, Reprieve, Camfed and Just for Kids Law.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She was on the board of social networking company Twitter, Inc. from June 2016 until its takeover by Elon Musk in October 2022.<ref name=bottomline/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2020, Lane Fox was appointed to the board of directors of the company WeTransfer.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She was appointed president of the British Chambers of Commerce in October 2022.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> In November 2024, Lane-Fox joined the board of Multiverse, a British apprenticeships company co-founded and led by Euan Blair.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Charity work

Lady Lane-Fox is an advocate for such causes as human rights, women's rights, and social justice. In 2007, she founded Antigone,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a grant-making trust to support charities based in the United Kingdom. She is a patron of Reprieve, a legal action charity,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and CAMFED, an organization dedicated to fighting poverty, HIV, and AIDS in rural Africa through an emphasis on education of young women.<ref>Camfed on BBC Radio 4 this Christmas Day Template:Webarchive at Camfed</ref> She is also patron of the charity Just for Kids Law, which supports children and young people in London, as well as fighting for wider reform on behalf of young people across the UK.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

When the telecommunications company Orange withdrew its longstanding support for the Orange Prize, Lane Fox was one of several benefactors, along with Cherie Blair and Joanna Trollope, who offered to sustain the contest until another major sponsor could be found.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Honours and awards

Lane Fox was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for "services to the digital economy and charity".<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> In February 2013 she was assessed to be one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the same month it was announced that she was to be created a life peer to sit as a crossbencher in the House of Lords.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She was also recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2013.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On 25 March 2013, she was created a Life Peer as Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho, of Soho in the City of Westminster,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and was introduced in the House of Lords the next day.<ref name="title">Template:Cite news</ref> On 29 October 2015, Lane Fox was ranked 15th on the Richtopia list of 100 Most Influential British Entrepreneurs.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In February 2016, Lane Fox was elected a Distinguished Fellow of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, after being nominated by The Duke of Kent.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Refn

In October 2019, Lane Fox was named by media and marketing publication The Drum, in association with the Futures Network, Innovate Her and WACL, as the most influential woman in Britain's digital sector from the past quarter of a century.<ref name="thedrum.com"/> She was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2023.<ref name="NF23">Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

Lane Fox lives in Marylebone, London, with her partner Chris Gorell Barnes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name= "EKing"/> Their identical twin sons, Milo and Felix, were born in 2016.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In May 2004, she was severely injured in a car accident in the tourist resort of Essaouira in Morocco and was flown to England for treatment at John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, and later Wellington Hospital in London. She was discharged from hospital in December 2005.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• Lane Fox family
• Fox family
• Felicity Lane-Fox, Baroness Lane-Fox

Further reading

• Burke's Landed Gentry (1965 Edn): LANE FOX of Bramham Park