Peter Vicary-Smith was appointed Chair (designate) of Board of Governors in November 2019, and taking over from the former Chair, Leslie Morphy OBE on 1 August 2020.
Peter was Chief Executive Officer of Which?, Europe’s largest consumer organisation, until 2018. During 14 years at the helm, he led its major transformation into a highly successful digital-first publisher. Peter personally led Which? advocacy activity in areas of public policy, engaging with senior Ministers, Chairs and Chief Executives of regulators and companies, both in the UK and internationally.
Following a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Queen’s College, University of Oxford, Peter worked in marketing before becoming a strategy consultant at McKinsey.
His other roles before Which? include spending 13 years leading fundraising for two of Britain’s biggest charities, Cancer Research UK and Oxfam, significantly increasing their income.
Over 25 years, Peter has also had a wide-ranging career as a non-executive director, including his roles as trustee at Marie Curie and MHA (specialising in dementia care). He has also been President of BEUC, an umbrella body of 43 independent European consumer organisations.
Peter is undertaking a part-time master’s in History at the University of Edinburgh. He is passionate about bringing the transformative power of excellent higher education within the reach of the widest possible group of people, regardless of background or income.
