Ruth Cairnie
Board Mentor
Criticaleye
Ruth currently is a Non-executive Chair of Babcock International Group plc, Unseen Group, a cooperative company that helps transform the early career developmental space; at Protocol National Ltd, at Employment Conditions Abroad Limited, Harvey Nash Group, who he also is a Non-Executive Director for; and a Supporting Chair at Chapter Zero. She has previously held non-executive director roles on the Boards of Rolls-Royce plc, ContourGlobal plc, Keller Group plc, CloudCall Plc, and for Talking Talent Ltd and was also previously a Senior Independent Director at Associated British Foods plc
In September 2019, Ruth became a Patron of the Women in Defence Charter, which commits organisations in the Defence sector to driving diversity & inclusion and providing opportunities for women to succeed at all levels.
She is also previsouly served as Chair of POWERful Women, an initiative to advance gender diversity within the Energy sector, and in 2020, was appointed as Commissioner of the Covid Recovery Commission. Ruth is also a Trustee of Windsor Leadership and a Member of the Finance Committee at the University of Cambridge.
From September 2011 until April 2014, Ruth was Executive Vice President for Strategy & Planning at Royal Dutch Shell. Her last executive role followed a number of senior international roles within Shell, including Vice President of the Global Commercial Fuels business and serving on the Boards of Shell Pakistan and JV companies in Germany and Thailand.
Ruth graduated with a Joint Honours in Mathematics & Physics from Bristol University. She then did research into Cosmology and Black Holes at Cambridge University, later taking a Master's in Advanced Studies.