Usha Prashar, Baroness Prashar
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Early life and education
Born in Kenya, she came to Yorkshire with her father Naurhia Lal Prashar and family in the 1960s. She was educated at the then direct grant school Wakefield Girls' High School, becoming head girl in 1967. Prashar read Politics at Leeds University, graduating in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, after which she undertook postgraduate studies in Social Administration at the University of Glasgow.
Career
Private sector
Baroness Prashar was a non-executive director of Channel Four Television Corporation from 1992 to 1999, of UNITE Group plc from 2001 to 2004, and became a non-executive director of ITV plc in February 2005.
Public sector
Baroness Prashar was executive chair of the Parole Board of England and Wales from October 1997 to October 2000. Having been appointed a Civil Service Commissioner in 1990, she was First Civil Service Commissioner from August 2000 to 2005.
Non-governmental sector
Baroness Prashar is a trustee of Cumberland Lodge, an educational charity initiating fresh debate on the burning questions facing society.<ref>Cumberland Lodge: Trustees Template:Webarchive</ref>
Baroness Prashar became a governor of De Montfort University in 1996, and became its chancellor in 2001. She was chair of the National Literacy Trust from 2001 to 2005. She was appointed a trustee of the BBC World Service Trust in 2002, and was president of the Royal Commonwealth Society. She was Deputy Chair of the British Council.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Baroness Prashar was a director of the Runnymede Trust from 1976 to 1984, a Fellow with the Policy Studies Institute from 1984 to 1986, and Director of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations from 1986 to 1991. She is also a governor of the Ditchley Foundation, which organises conferences in Oxfordshire.<ref>The Ditchley Foundation: The Governors Template:Webarchive</ref>
Iraq Inquiry
Since July 2009, Baroness Prashar has served on the Iraq Inquiry. She was sworn of the Privy Council the same year<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> to facilitate access to the classified information related to the Iraq War.
UK Community Foundations
She previously served as the Honorary President of UK Community Foundations (UKCF), the umbrella organisation for all community foundations, providing philanthropic advice to clients and delivering UK-wide grant-making programmes.
Honours and styles
Honours
She was appointed as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1995 New Year Honours for services to community relations,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and was made a life peer on 15 July 1999 as Baroness Prashar, of Runnymede, in the County of Surrey.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>
In 2016, she was awarded an honorary doctorate of law by the University of London. Later in 2018, was awarded an honorary doctorate of literature from Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology in India.
References
External links
- Inaugural Judicial Appointments Commission Chair (GNN announcement, 6 October 2005)
- Appointment as non-executive director of ITV plc (8 February 2005)
- Announcement of her introduction at the House of Lords House of Lords minutes of proceedings, 26 July 1999
- Baroness Prashar's profile on TheyWorkForYou.com
- Baroness Prashar's profile on official Iraq Inquiry site
- UK Community Foundations (UKCF)
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- 1948 births
- Living people
- Alumni of the University of Glasgow
- Alumni of the University of Leeds
- British people of Indo-Kenyan descent
- British women chief executives
- Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
- Crossbench life peers
- English Hindus
- English people of Indian descent
- Kenyan emigrants to the United Kingdom
- Kenyan people of Indian descent
- Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II
- Life peers created by Elizabeth II
- Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
- National Council for Voluntary Organisations chief executives
- Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
- People associated with De Montfort University
- People of the British Council
- Social Democratic Party (UK) politicians
- British women nonprofit executives
- 20th-century Hindus
- 21st-century Hindus