Claire Ighodaro is an independent Board Member of the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry), a non-executive Director of Lloyds of London (Franchise Board), the Banking Code Standards Board (BCSB) and of UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), a Council Member of the Open University and of the national Learning and Skills Council and a trustee of the British Council. She is also Chairman of the Open University Audit Committee, the UK Trade & Investment Audit Committee and the BCSB Audit Committee.

A past President of CIMA (the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants), Claire Ighodaro is the first woman and first black person to lead this organisation, which regulates and examines over 150,000 accountants and trainees in the UK and worldwide.

Until December 2004 Claire was a senior executive at BT PLC, where she held a number of key posts including Finance Director, Broadband, Vice President Finance, BT Openworld and Head of Group Quality. She also worked in Germany as Programme Director at BT joint venture company, Viag Interkom GmbH.

She was awarded a CBE in the 2008 New Year Honours.

Claire is married with three daughters.