Nora Nanayakkara
Biography
Nora holds a number of independent governance roles, including Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee and Non Executive Director on the Board of the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA), which oversees the production and regulation of the UK’s official statistics system.
Nora’s executive career in the private sector included leading sales teams in Germany as Director of International Operations and Business Development and successfully launching a digital tech start-up’s UK presence. Having achieved an MBA, she then developed a portfolio of governance roles with her appointment as a Non Executive Director (NED) to the Board of Nominet, which runs a critical piece of the UK’s digital infrastructure; the .uk domain name register. She was subsequently appointed by Nominet as Senior Independent Trustee and Chair of the Audit Committee to the board of its corporate social investment foundation, Nominet Trust, which awarded multimillion pound funding to entrepreneurial organizations with innovative technology-enabled missions. She also served as a NED and Audit Committee member on the Board of the UK trading fund, The IPO, which is responsible for the UK’s intellectual rights.
As well as her cross sectoral non executive portfolio and governance roles, Nora brings valuable experience of professional regulation through her role as a lay fitness to practice chair at the General Dental Council (GDC), as a lay panellist and Chair at the General Osteopathic Council (GOsC), an independent member of the Bar Council’s audit committee and the ACCA’s Regulation Board. Nora holds a Ministerial NED appointment in Ireland on the Board of the Digital Hub in Dublin, which provides incubator space and support to international tech start-ups. She is also a member of the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB).
Previous roles in government
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Non-executive board member
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Non-executive board member, IPO