Michael Hastings, Baron Hastings of Scarisbrick
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Relatives | Daniel Hastings (brother) |
Michael John Hastings, Baron Hastings of Scarisbrick,
He is also a Vice President at UNICEF UK and a trustee for the Africa Philanthropy Foundation. He is the former Head of Public Affairs at the BBC and was their first head of Corporate Social Responsibility serving for 12 years. He also served as the Global Head of Citizenship for KPMG for 13 years and is a former Trustee of the Vodafone Group Foundation and subsequently a Governor of the Vodafone/Safaricom M-PESA Academy in Nairobi for 800 of Kenya's most poorest children.
Hastings began his career as a teacher then worked across government agencies on policies to build racial equality, being a Commissioner with the Commission for Racial Equality for nine years, workforce development working alongside Government on urban renewal, and safer and more effective crime prevention strategies founding Crime Concern and Catch22, having been a trustee and Chairman of Crime Concern for 21 years. He is co-founder of My Brother's Keeper – an in-depth ongoing in-prison service and support network building better outcomes for insiders. He chairs the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Black Business Association, and also the Advisory Board of the Black Business Institute. He served as an NED on BT's Board for Responsible and Sustainable Business for nine years. In 2021, he became President of UKCF, the UK's Community Foundations network, and separately a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers in the City of London.
He was appointed CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 2003 for services to crime reduction, and appointed to the House of Lords in 2005 as an independent peer. He received the UNICEF Award in 2005 for Services to Africa's Children, and in 2014 received a Doctorate in Civil Law from the University of Kent, Canterbury, in recognition for his leadership at KPMG and the BBC and for his work in international development and corporate responsibility. In 2019, he was the inaugural recipient of the Stephen R Covey Leadership Award for a life built on principles and effective leadership in business and public life.
Early life
Family and personal life
His father was born in Angola and educated in Somerset and Edinburgh, where he qualified as a dental surgeon. From there he went to Jamaica, where he met his wife who was one of his patients. In 1954, they moved back to the UK, where Hastings was born in 1958.
In 1966, the British government was funding professionals to move to Jamaica and his father took the opportunity to return and settled in Montego Bay where they built their new home. However, in 1970 a pro-Russian/pro-Cuban government was voted into power and very soon the USA with memories of the Cuban Bay of Pigs crisis created a trade blockade of the island which very soon descended into economic chaos forcing the family to return their two sons once more to the UK.
Education
Hastings attended
Having taken his
Journalism and business career
Hastings began his career as a teacher at Greenway Secondary school in Uxbridge (now Uxbridge High School, London), and then in 1986 moved into government service, supporting policy initiatives to bring employment and development to Britain's inner cities.
In 1990, with his specialist expertise in journalism becoming increasingly known, he was invited by the Chairman of TV-am to join as a producer of programmes looking at school failures. TV-am lost the franchise after one year but Hastings stayed on as presenter on the 6 to 7 am show. He moved to the BBC where he worked on the weekly Around Westminster programme as its presenter.
From being in front of the camera he was invited by the Director General[
Hastings is a former trustee of the
Hastings was appointed
Political and philanthropic career
In February 1986, Hastings received a phone call from the PM's adviser to work alongside the Government and help deal with the problems surrounding the urban riots of the time (1981/1985) arising from a sense of frustration by disenfranchised young black men.[citation needed] He was called to strategic meetings No10 and gave up teaching going into largely black areas to build confidence and trust among these disadvantaged communities, which he did for five years.
As someone who for a long time was always meeting and being in contact with politicians, he was first approached by Paddy Ashdown MP in his resignation honours options to consider a life peerage under Lib Dem patronage but turned down the offer.[citation needed] He was later offered a peerage by other senior political figures but declined once more as it was politically aligned.[citation needed] Eventually, however, he was approached by the Independent Appointments Commission, accepted their offer, and was elevated to the Peerage in December 2005, taking the title of his boarding school.[citation needed]
House of Lords
In 2005, Hastings was awarded a peerage to the House of Lords by Queen Elizabeth II,[5][6] where he sits as a crossbencher. In the same year he also received the UNICEF award from the UK Chancellor for his "outstanding contribution to understanding and effecting solutions for Africa's children". Hastings is Chairman of the Council of ZANE, a development aid agency focused on Zimbabwe, and vice president of Tear Fund. In 2011, he became vice president of UNICEF, the UN Children's and Education Fund.
Hastings was chairman of Millennium Promise UK and a member of the global Millennium Promise board. In 2010, he was a leading advisor to the Chatham House enquiry into the Future Role of the UK in Foreign Affairs. He sat on the council of the Overseas Development Institute in the UK and previously on the Center for Global Development in the US.
Honours
In 2014, Hastings was conferred with a doctorate in civil law from the University of Kent,[7] Canterbury, in recognition for his leadership at KPMG, and the BBC on International Development and Corporate Responsibility. He was installed as the Chancellor of Regent's University London in February 2017.[4]
References
- ^ "Banned! The Mary Whitehouse Story". BBC. 5 April 2022.
- ^ "Team | We Are Harambeans". Harambeans. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ^ "No. 56430". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2001. p. 8.
- ^ a b "Lord Dr Michael Hastings of Scarisbrick CBE". Regent's University London. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
- ^ "No. 57788". The London Gazette. 17 October 2005. p. 13364.
- ^ "HOLAC Appointments". House of Lords Appointments Commission. Archived from the original on 18 April 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
- ^ Hughes, Gary (3 July 2014). "Honorary degrees for July". University of Kent News Centre. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
External links
- Media related to Michael Hastings, Baron Hastings of Scarisbrick at Wikimedia Commons