Chief Executive Officer, The Priory of England and the Islands of the Order of St John and St John Ambulance

Policy Leaders Fellow alumna, Centre for Science and Policy

Shona has been the Chief Executive Officer of St John Ambulance since September 2024.

The majority of Shona’s career to date has been in the Civil Service where she has led service delivery and wider organisational change across multiple Departments and public services.

Shona was appointed Second Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in April 2021 and played a pivotal role in supporting the government's response to the pandemic, working closely with the NHS on service delivery and leading work to reshape departmental readiness for future challenges.

Before that she was Second Permanent Secretary at the Home Office from October 2018, where she led on all aspects of organisational change and had particular responsibility for the borders, immigration and citizenship system.

Previous senior roles include Director General of the Economic and Domestic Affairs secretariat at the Cabinet Office; Director General of Education Standards at the Department for Education; Director of Fire and Resilience at the Department for Communities and Local Government; and Director of Town and Country Planning at the same. Shona is a Policy Leaders Fellow alumna, a the Centre for Science and Policy.

Born in Yorkshire, Shona now lives in London with her husband and three children. She has a background in science, with a degree in Biology and a masters in Ecology, and retains a keen interest in the environment, enjoying hiking and camping in her spare time.