Vicky Pryce CB

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

(born Vasiliki Courmouzis, 1952) is an economist

Economist

An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...

, and former Joint Head of the United Kingdom's Government Economic Service

Government Economic Service

The Government Economic Service was founded in 1964 by Sir Alec Cairncross. It is a professional grouping of public sector economists who work across some 40 government departments and agencies, the Bank of England is also a Corporate Member of the GES. The GES recruits economists on behalf of the...

.

Early life

She was born in Athens, the daughter of Nicolas and Voula Courmouzis. She studied at the LSE

London School of Economics

The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...

, gaining a BSc

Bachelor of Science

A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...

 in Economics and an MSc

Master of Science

A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...

 in Monetary Economics.

Career

After university she had a "glittering career"
at Williams & Glyn's Bank

Williams & Glyn's Bank

Williams & Glyn's Bank Limited was established in London in 1970, when the Royal Bank of Scotland merged its two subsidiaries in England and Wales, Williams Deacon's Bank Ltd. and Glyn, Mills & Co...

 (now part of the Royal Bank of Scotland) from 1973 to 1983 where she worked as an economist and became chief economist, chief economist for KPMG

KPMG

KPMG is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PwC. Its global headquarters is located in Amstelveen, Netherlands....

 from 1986 to 2001 starting as Peat Marwick McLintock, and corporate economist for Exxon Europe

Esso

Esso is an international trade name for ExxonMobil and its related companies. Pronounced , it is derived from the initials of the pre-1911 Standard Oil, and as such became the focus of much litigation and regulatory restriction in the United States. In 1972, it was largely replaced in the U.S. by...

 from 1983 to 1986. When having children, she took six weeks off for each child. She left KPMG at Blackfriars in late 2001, and worked for the London Economics consultancy.

DTI

Pryce joined the Department for Trade and Industry in August 2002 as Chief Economic Adviser, the first woman to be appointed to the post, for which the salary was about £110,000. She was also Chairman of the GoodCorporation, an organisation promoting ethical business practices.

She was Deputy Head from 2004 to 2007 of the Government's Economic Service, and Joint Head from 2007 to 2010.

In April 2010, it was announced that she would be leaving the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is a ministerial department of the United Kingdom Government created on 5 June 2009 by the merger of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform .-Ministers:The BIS...

 where she was Director General, Economics, and Joint Head of the Government Economic Service, to become senior managing director at the finance consultancy firm FTI.

Academia

She has been a visiting professor at City University

City University

City University may refer to:*City University London*City University of Hong Kong*City University of New York*City University of Seattle*University City of Caracas*City University of Pakistan*City University of MacauOther city universities:...

's Cass Business School from 2002-6 and since 2008, and at Imperial College Business School since 2010; a visiting Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford

Nuffield College, Oxford

Nuffield College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is an all-graduate college and primarily a research establishment, specialising in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology. It is a research centre in the social sciences...

 since 2008; a Fellow of the Society of Business Economists

Society of Business Economists

The Society of Business Economists is an organisation serving business economists in the UK. It publishes the journal The Business Economist .Notable members include:*Vicky Pryce*DeAnne Julius*Lord Burns*Richard O'Brien*Andrew Sentance...

 since 2005, and has sat on the Council of the University of Kent

University of Kent

The University of Kent, previously the University of Kent at Canterbury, is a public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom...

 since 2005 and of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts (RSA) from 2008-9. She was a Member on the Council of the Royal Economic Society

Royal Economic Society

The Royal Economic Society is incorporated by a Royal Charter dated 2 December 1902. It is one of the oldest economic associations in the world. Currently it has over 3,300 individual members, of whom 60% live outside the United Kingdom...

 (REconS) from 2002-7.

In 2010 she became the Master of the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants

Worshipful Company of Management Consultants

The Worshipful Company of Management Consultants is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. It started as a Guild of the City of London in 1993 and became a Company without Livery in 1999. On 4 May 2004, the Court of Aldermen granted the Company’s petition to become the 105th Livery...

.

Personal life

In 1972 she married an LSE academic with the surname of Pryce, whom she divorced in 1981, having had two daughters together.

Pryce is now separated from Chris Huhne

Chris Huhne

Christopher Murray Paul-Huhne, generally known as Chris Huhne is a British politician and cabinet minister, who is the current Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for the Eastleigh constituency in Hampshire...

, the Liberal Democrat MP for Eastleigh and Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change

Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change

The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change is a British government cabinet position currently held by Chris Huhne. The government department was created on 3 October 2008 when former Prime Minister Gordon Brown reshuffled his cabinet....

; the couple are in the process of divorcing. They married in 1984, and had three children together.