Baroness Joanna Shields OBE

Baroness Joanna Shields OBE is a tech industry veteran with a successful track record building some of the world’s best-known companies. Extremely passionate about tech that benefits humanity, her career spans over 30 years and has focused on harnessing the power of technology to drive change that improves connectivity, humanity and society. She is currently Chief Executive Officer of London-based drug-discovery company BenevolentAI, a world leader in the development and application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to understand the underlying causes of disease, accelerate drug discovery and develop new and more effective medicines. Prior to joining UK BenevolentAI, Baroness Shields served as the UK’s first Minister for Internet Safety and Security, Under Secretary of State, Special Advisor on the Digital Economy, and Chair & CEO of TechCityUK. Before her government service, she held executive roles at Google, Facebook, Bebo/Aol, Decru, RealNetworks, Veon and EFI and served as a non-executive director of the London Stock Exchange Group and TalkTalk Telecom Group. In 2014 she founded WePROTECT.org, a multi-stakeholder global alliance working to protect children from online abuse and exploitation. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity and the Child Dignity Alliance. In 2014, she was appointed OBE for services to digital industries and voluntary service to young people and made a Life Peer of the House of Lords.