Ruth Hunt

Crossbench Peer and former CEO of Stonewall, Europe’s largest LGBT organisation.

At the age of 34, Ruth Hunt became one of the youngest CEOs in the country. At 39, she became the youngest crossbench peer. Baroness Hunt of Bethnal Green is now one of the directors of Deeds and Words, along with her partner Caroline Ellis, working with individuals, organisations, businesses, social movements and communities to help create a shared sense of purpose.

As CEO of Stonewall, Europe’s largest LGBT equality charity, Ruth purposefully reached deeper into communities, taking campaigns to more people while extending the organisation’s campaigning remit to include trans communities. This change was long over-due. In her 14 years at Stonewall, Ruth worked her way up through the policy and campaigning team, during which time the UK took huge steps towards equality for LGBT people.

Having come out at just 13, Ruth would be the first to say that these are not achievements in spite of being a woman and a lesbian. To the contrary, Ruth’s natural ability to deconstruct and grapple with complex situations and perspectives has been honed by her own identity, and the need to articulate it to others and in defence of persecuted LGBT people around the world. It’s what led her to understand the fundamental link between workplace performance, employment satisfaction, and the space for staff to work and lead in their own way.

It is exactly this articulation, delivered with a brevity and wit that belies expectations, which has built empathy and shaped conversations towards momentous change, and there’s very little Ruth can’t speak to. Externally, her tenure of CEO of Stonewall was subject to extensive scrutiny, both via her 25k followers on twitter and the national media, while internally she faced the challenges of managing a millennial-heavy workplace where the professional is both personal and political. Additionally, the supposed incompatibility between being a person of faith and LGBT is a matter into which Ruth has unique insight.

Ruth is also a graduate of St Hilda’s College, Oxford, former President of the University of Oxford Student Union and holds an honorary fellowship from Cardiff University, as well as honorary degrees from Keele and Exeter. In 2019 Ruth was voted number one in The Independent’s World Pride Power List.