Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge · 2026-06-15 · 1h 12m
Known to millions as Mrs. Moneypenny from her 16 year Financial Times column, Heather has been an investment banker, executive search entrepreneur, Edinburgh Fringe performer, off Broadway actress, PhD holder, chartered accountant and now Provost of Heriot-Watt University Dubai, overseeing 5,500 students and 600 staff. She qualified as a chartered accountant three weeks before her 60th birthday. She borrowed £1.8 million personally to buy a business, then gifted it to her staff. She co-founded the 30% Club when women held just 12% of FTSE board seats. It is now 45%. This conversation covers all of it. Why she rejects guilt and regret as wasted emotions. What structural barriers actually stop women from getting ahead and how to dismantle them. Why Dubai's greatest advantage is not the skyline but the connectivity and free movement of capital and labour that Europe has quietly forgotten. And what she really thinks about the value of a university degree. Heather also shares the story behind the Taylor Bennett Foundation, built to help Black and minority ethnic graduates break into professional services, funded from her own dividends, and the moment she knew it was working.
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