Penny Richards

Penny Richards is a Senior Advisor and Trustee of the Aspen Institute in the UK. She was the founder CEO of Aspen UK, building it from a thoughtful dream to the inspiring organisation it is today, with a committed community of leaders from across the UK, and world. Penny is a leader with an exceptional track record of delivering change and meaningful results for international organisations, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the BBC. She spent many years working in foreign news at the BBC, finally as their Asia Bureau Editor, responsible for the news coverage of half the world’s population. She has also been the COO for The Elders, a group of independent former world leaders including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and President Jimmy Carter, working together for peace and human rights. Most recently she was the Executive Director of the Institute of Masters of Wine, the wine industry’s only prestigious global education and membership organisation.