Valerie Amos
Baroness Valerie Amos (born 13 March 1954, Guyana) was appointed UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator in July 2010.
She is a Labour life peer and was the first black woman to enter Cabinet in 2003 and preside as Leader of the House of Lords.[1]
Contents
Career
From 1998 to 2001 Baroness Amos was appointed a Government Whip in the House of Lords. She was also the International Development Spokesperson from 1998 to 2007 and the Minister of State for Africa from 2001 to 2003. In 2003 she was appointed Secretary of State for International Development. Between 2003-2007 Baroness Amos became leader of the House of Lords and Lord President to the Privy Council.[2]
Revolving door
Amos became a non-executive director of Nigerian private equity firm Travant Capital shortly after she resigned from the Cabinet in 2007. Questions were raised over the potential conflict of interest of her appointment shortly after Travant had received £15 million from the government-run company CDC, which is owned by the department she used to run, the Department for International Development (Dfid). CDC uses private equity funds to plough public money into poorer countries, mainly in Africa and Asia. More than a third of Travant's first equity fund came from the DfID through CDC when it was first launched in 2007. [3]
In the House of Lords Register of Members Interests she lists this directorship as remunerated. At launch over one third of Travant’s first equity fund came from CDC (a government-owned plc). CDC's investment decisions are taken completely independently of external influences (including its shareholder) and the decision to invest in Travant by CDC was taken before Baroness Amos was appointed to the board of Travant.[10]
[4] Travant Capital Partners (http://www.travantcapital.com/)
- Non-executive director,[5] Titanium Resources Group (http://titaniumresources.com/)
Publications, Contact, Resources and Notes
Publications
Contact
- Address:
- Phone:
- Email:
- Website:
Resources
- Fawcett Society, Baroness Valerie Amos, accessed 24 November 2008.
- Titanium Resources Group, Board Changes, 10 March 2008, accessed 24 November 2008.
- Travant Capital, The Board, accessed 24 November 2008.
- Ungoed-Thomas, Jon, et al., "Revealed: how minister cashed in on contacts," The Sunday Times, 23 November 2008, accessed 24 November 2008.
Notes and References
- ↑ Fawcett Society, Baroness Valerie Amos, accessed 24 November 2008.
- ↑ Fawcett Society, Baroness Valerie Amos, accessed 24 November 2008.
- ↑ Kirsty Walker [1]
- ↑ Travant Capital, The Board, accessed 24 November 2008.
- ↑ Titanium Resources Group, Board Changes, 10 March 2008, accessed 24 November 2008.
