Siobhan Moriarty

I was born and brought up in Dublin, Ireland. Although my education was in the state system there, it was unusual, as it was conducted primarily through the Irish (Gaelic) language, so was part of a minority sector there. I studied law in University College Dublin, going on to qualify as a solicitor, initially in Ireland and later in the UK. My training included a 6-month stint in Brussels as a “stagiaire” with the EU Commission. I came to the UK in the late 1980s to get a few years’ experience in the City of London, post “Big Bang”. I am still here over 30 years later. I have worked in law firms in both Dublin and London, latterly for 8 years with Clifford Chance before joining Guinness (now Diageo) in 1997.
I was there for nearly 25 years, working my way up the ranks to the role of General Counsel on the Executive Committee and most recently in the combined role of General Counsel & Company Secretary. I retired in late 2021 and have gone back to the life of a student, studying History of Art (part-time) at the University of Oxford. I am also a non-executive director on the Friends Board and a Trustee of the Royal Academy of Arts in Piccadilly, London.