Mentor
Lesley Ann Nash
Overview
Lesley-Ann Nash is an experienced board director whose career spans investment banking, central government and corporate governance. She is currently a Non-Executive Director at the CBI and a board member of Workspace Group plc, Homes England (the UK Government’s housing accelerator). At Workspace, she chairs the Remuneration Committee and sits on the Audit and Risk Committees. She previously served on the board of St James’s Place (SJP), where she was a member of the Risk and Remuneration Committees and the designated Non-Executive Director for Workforce Engagement. She was also a Non-Executive Director at Business LDN, which promotes London as a leading global business capital
Lesley-Ann’s current non-executive portfolio follows two earlier careers. After qualifying as an accountant, she moved quickly into investment banking, spending two decades on the trading floor. She began at UBS, designing derivative-linked assets for private clients and Swiss cantons, before joining Morgan Stanley, where she became a Managing Director and built and led a structured interbank business within the Global Capital Markets Division. This period gave her deep exposure to capital markets, structured products and complex risk, as well as to the dynamics of leading high-performing teams in demanding, performance-driven environments.
In 2013 she moved into public service, joining the Cabinet Office as a senior Civil Servant. Over seven years she worked under three Prime Ministers and six Cabinet Office Ministers, shaping and delivering programmes that created meaningful change and significant value for the public purse against a backdrop of political and economic turbulence. This experience reinforced her ability to navigate complexity, balance stakeholders and deliver outcomes in highly scrutinised settings.
Throughout her executive and non-executive career, Lesley-Ann has been a visible advocate for under-represented groups. She is a member of the Parker Review panel, helping to drive greater ethnic representation on FTSE boards, and is known for her keen eye for talent and commitment to equality of opportunity.
Lesley-Ann brings deep cross-sector expertise in:
• Capital markets, structuring & banking – 20 years on the trading floor at UBS and Morgan Stanley, including MD-level business leadership.
• Board governance, audit & remuneration – Non-Executive Director roles at Workspace, SJP and the CBI, with committee chair and workforce engagement responsibilities.
• Housing, infrastructure & regional development – board role at Homes England and engagement with London’s business ecosystem via Business LDN.
• Diversity, equity & inclusion – long-standing champion of under-represented groups and member of the Parker Review panel on ethnic diversity on boards.
A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, she also holds an MBA from City University Business School (formerly Cass).
PDF Profile
Download PDFMajor Career Roles
Workspace Group plc
Independent Non-Executive Director
Homes England
Non-Executive Director
Confederation of British Industry (CBI)
Non-Executive Director
St James’s Place plc
Independent Non-Executive Director and Designated Workforce Engagement Non-Executive Director
Morgan Stanley & Co Ltd
Managing Director, Global Capital Markets
Other Career Highlights
UK Cabinet Office
Director, Large-Scale Commercial & Consumer Programmes
BusinessLDN
Non-Executive Director
Derivatives Product Group, UBS AG London Branch
Director
Access to an unmatched roster of world-class Mentors
Our unrivalled global roster of board chairs and CEOs offers the seasoned wisdom of proven world-class leaders. Explore this rich array of talent and connect with us to begin a mentoring journey shaped around your leadership context.