Madush Gupta
Deputy Chair, Planning and Transportation, City of London Corporation
I am a non-executive leader and elected public servant who brings to a board an unusual combination: independent judgement honed in elected office, stewardship of substantial financial and physical assets, the credibility to govern technology and AI, and a proven ability to steady organisations through scrutiny and change. Few candidates hold all four together, and it is that combination — rather than any single credential — that makes me valuable to a board.
Independence is what most distinguishes me, and I have demonstrated it at a cost. On becoming Deputy Chair of the City of London Corporation's planning authority, I stepped down entirely from its investment committee, which oversees a £4.5bn endowment, to remove any perceived conflict between the Corporation's interests as an investor and its duties as a statutory planning authority. The integrity of public decision-making matters more to me than the seniority of any role, and I act on that belief.
My stewardship spans both capital and the built environment. I chair the investment oversight of a £32m endowment supporting schools that serve a majority of pupil-premium pupils across East London; through the Corporation's Finance and Capital Buildings governance I help scrutinise the funding of social housing and the delivery of major capital projects; and I help govern the planning decisions that shape one of the world's principal financial districts. Boards trust me with consequential decisions because I ask the questions others may not, and hold an executive to account without losing sight of the people an organisation exists to serve.
Increasingly, those questions concern technology. From a senior technology leadership role at Lloyds Banking Group, I understand how data and artificial intelligence are reshaping every part of an organisation — and the risks that follow. Few boards have a director who can scrutinise a digital transformation or an AI deployment with genuine fluency, neither swept up in the executive's enthusiasm nor lost in the detail. That is governance every organisation now needs.
I have also shown that I can hold an organisation firm when it matters most. As Acting Chair of a HM Treasury-funded body during a period of governance difficulty, I commissioned an independent King's Counsel investigation, reset the board, recruited permanent leadership, and handed over a stable, properly governed organisation with its funding secured. That taught me what calm, principled governance looks like under real pressure.
My focus now is on organisations with a clear public purpose — in housing, education, research, regeneration and the wider public and charitable sectors — where independent challenge, financial discipline and sound judgement on technology serve the communities they exist for.
