Michelle Mitchell

Michelle Mitchell is a highly experienced CEO with considerable national and international Trustee and Non-Executive experience and leadership experience. She is CEO at Cancer Research UK and a Non-Executive Director at NHS England. She is responsible for the overall leadership and management of CRUK, the world’s leading charitable funder of research.

Cancer Research UK is the world’s leading charitable funder of cancer research, guiding the charity towards achieving its mission that by 2034, three in four people will survive their cancer for at least 10 years.

Mitchell is a senior voluntary sector leader who has transformed a number of not-for-profit organizations to achieve better their purpose and global impact. She has a successful track record of delivering long term value, collaboration and innovation. She believes that by working together, and building the strongest possible team, we will beat cancer together. She is a member of the National Cancer Board.

Before joining Cancer Research UK, Mitchell was CEO of the MS Society for five years and a founding member of the Progressive MS Alliance: a global scientific and research joint venture and launched the STOP MS £100m appeal. Prior to that, she was Director General at Age UK, the UK’s largest older people’s charity where she worked for nearly a decade and was at the forefront of national debates on health, care and welfare.

Mitchell has extensive non-executive experience, including as a NED at NHS England, which sets the priorities and direction for the NHS in England and previously as a Trustee at the King’s Fund, a leading health policy think-tank.

Mitchell has a BA in Economics, an MA in Politics and Public Administration and an International Executive Diploma from INSEAD. She was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire award) in 2015 for services to the charity sector.