Dame Julia Cleverdon DCVO, CBE is a passionate and practical campaigner, internationally renowned for “connecting the unconnected” and inspiring individuals and organisations to collaborate for the common good.
Throughout her distinguished career, Dame Julia has championed long-term, cross-sector collaboration in the UK’s most disadvantaged communities. She has worked tirelessly to support local leaders, empower headteachers, engage young people, and build community capacity to foster a stronger, more inclusive civil society rooted in diversity, sustainability, and locally-driven solutions.
She has chaired leading charities including *Teach First*, the *National Literacy Trust*, and *Place Matters*, all focused on tackling inequality in areas experiencing deep poverty, marginalisation, and discrimination.
Dame Julia is Co-founder of the #iwill movement, which promotes youth engagement in social action through volunteering, campaigning, and advocacy. She also chairs the **National Statistician’s Committee on Inclusive Data**, helping ensure that national data better reflects the diversity of the UK population.
Her board roles have included Trustee positions with the *Fair Education Alliance*, *The Careers & Enterprise Company*, *Youth Futures Foundation*, and *Teach For All*. She is also Patron of *Right to Succeed*.
Earlier in her career, Dame Julia worked with *The Industrial Society* and later served as Chief Executive of *Business in the Community* for 17 years. She subsequently became Special Adviser to the Prince’s Charities, working closely with the then Prince of Wales to advance his charitable interests.
Business in the Community’s Place programme
Julia serves on the Place Taskforce at Business in the Community’s (BITC), which supports the mission of BITC’s Place programme, to facilitate meaningful connections between businesses, communities, and local councils to reset economic ambitions and collaborate on new, innovative solutions that will deliver long-term, transformative impact in communities across the United Kingdom.
Julia Cleverdon at BITC’s 2025 Leadership Assembly
The Leadership Assembly 2025 brought together more than 100 senior leaders from businesses across the UK to discuss key insights from the State of the Nation 2025 Report and shape priorities for business-led action.
In this video, Julia shares insight from the Assembly, talking about the power of business to make a difference in society and her belief that while not all problems are unsolvable, nearly all will be helped by the engagement of business.