Victoria's skills as a non-executive director have been described as visionary and always focused on 'what's in it' for the customer. An entrepreneur for 30 years combined with solid corporate experience - as a former director of EY in London and on the management team - she has strong influencing skills and an ability to help fellow board members navigate creative and digital landscapes.

Victoria founded Next-Up in 2018. This business evolved from Northern Lights which was increasingly helping experienced people to find opportunities in their ‘unretirement’ and develop their personal brands (Northern Lights is now a trading division of Next-Up).

Next-Up helps anyone over 50 who doesn’t want another mainstream job and supports organisations with a range of services for employees/partners as well as individuals themselves. A key part of its role is to inspire people with ideas and contacts, beyond traditional expectations in 'unretirement' and bring generations together to learn from and help each other.

Through webinars, events, guides and videos, community groups, coaching and practical support, each individual can work out what is right for them and then make it happen. This includes finding organisations that need their skills – from charity projects to tech entrepreneurs and business schools; starting a business or becoming a consultant; finding speaking opportunities; and much more.

Victoria is an Amazon bestselling author, one of the world’s top 100 on Twitter on leadership, a blogger and one of the BBC’s expert women regularly appearing on TV and radio to comment on news.

Named one of Yorkshire’s top entrepreneurs and outstanding communicator of the year, she was on the board of Northern Ballet for eight years and chaired an advisory board for the University of Leeds – she received the Vice Chancellor’s Leadership Award for outstanding chairing. She is currently Honorary Teaching Fellow at Lancaster University.

Victoria is an international speaker on leadership, women on boards and personal impact and was awarded exceptional trainer status by the Institute of Leadership & Management. She has coached 4 ceos, including a FTSE ceo, and many directors; and mentors start-up businesses, young people and ex-offenders.