Dr Helen Phillips FRSB, DL

Dr Helen Phillips was appointed chair of the CII Board in 2020.  She is the first independent lay chair of the board following changes to the governance of the CII effected in 2019.

Helen is also currently chair of the General Dental Council, the UK’s dental regulator and a Commissioner of the Gambling Commission. She is the senior independent director on the board of the Environmental Services Association. Her previous non-executive roles include chairing NHS Professionals Ltd, a company wholly owned by the Department of Health and Social Care from 2023 - 2026, the Legal Services Board, the oversight regulator for the legal services sector, from 2017 to 2023, and chairing Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust from 2015 to 2024. Helen was also a founding non-executive director of Social Work England from 2018 - 2021.

Previously Helen was a Board Director of Yorkshire Water and chair of Loop Customer Management Ltd, a Kelda Group subsidiary. Prior to that her career as a regulator was as founding Chief Executive and Board member of Natural England, and before that as Director, Wales of the Environment Agency.

Helen has a BSc in Zoology and a PhD in Environmental Science from University College Dublin. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, a Liverywoman of the Worshipful Company of Insurers, and a Deputy Lieutenant for Derbyshire.