Baroness Shields is the Chair of Tech City in London and serves as the UK Prime Minister's Chief Advisor on the Digital Economy. She was appointed a Life Peer in the House of Lords in October 2014.

 

Before taking up her current post at Tech City, she was Vice President and Managing Director of Facebook EMEA and prior to this position she served as Managing Director for Google Europe, Russia, Middle East & Africa. Earlier in her career she served as President of People Networks at Aol, a position she assumed after the acquisition of Bebo by Time Warner's Aol. At Bebo, Baroness Shields was CEO, leading the company's growth to 50 million users and eventual acquisition for US$850 million.

 

Working on behalf of the Home Office and the US Department of Justice, Baroness Shields is currently leading the industry engagement for the UK/US Taskforce to combat online sexual exploitation of children. In 2014, she launched the “WeProtect” forum with a mission to encourage the technology industry to develop innovative solutions to the problems of online abuse and exploitation.

 

In 2014 she was recognised as an Officer in the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours for services to the digital industries and voluntary service to young people.

 

In 2013 Computer Weekly named Baroness Shields "The Most Influential Woman in the UK IT industry", in the same year she received the British Interactive Media Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She was ranked #1 on the Wired 100 in 2011 and #6 in the MediaGuardian 100 in 2012. In 2013 she was listed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the UK by BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.

 

She serves on the Board of the London Stock Exchange and is a Trustee for the American School in London. She was formerly a Trustee of Save the Children UK, NSPCC’s There4Me, the Prince's Trust Internet and Media Leadership Group and the Home Secretary Theresa May’s Women’s Business Council.

 

She earned her Bachelor of Science degree at The Pennsylvania State University in 1984 and her Master’s in Business Administration at George Washington University in 1987. In 2014 she was recognised in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours for services to the digital industries and voluntary service to young people.

Joanna Shields, Baroness Shields