Zenna Atkins is one of Britain’s most acclaimed social entrepreneurs and a prominent voice and recognised expert in driving profitable social change through high-profile public and private organisations.
On leaving school she set up an unemployment centre in Cornwall at the age of 16 and then worked her way up to become Senior Deputy Project Manager at the Richmond fellowship; a national charity running therapeutic communities for vulnerable people.
She has since established herself as an independent voice of authority on social issues; from founding the award-winning PCSP social business and acting as an Executive Director for the social sector consultancy company Social Solutions, to reducing crime in Portsmouth and later helping increase life expectancy in the city by two years as Chairman of the NHS Primary Care Trust.
Zenna is now presiding as Chairman of Ofsted, the children and learners inspection and regulation body, and the Group Chairman of Places for People, national property development and management company dedicated to creating neighbourhoods of choice for all; managing 58 thousand properties and building 1700 homes a year.
She is also the Non Executive Director on the Royal Navy Fleet executive board and Audit Committee Chair, a trustee of the Olympic Legacy Trust and voluntary Chair of an innovative young persons’ organisation called dreamwall.
Zenna has a national reputation, is a sought after conference speaker and is an advisor on governmental panels and committees, exploring a range of issues including health, social engagement and social entrepreneurship.
In 2000 she won Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year South Region and in 2003 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Portsmouth University.