Heather Rabbatts

Who is Heather Rabbatts?

Heather Rabbatts CBE is a Jamaican-born British lawyer, businesswoman and broadcaster, who rose to prominence as Chief Executive of the London Borough of Lambeth.

Rabbatts was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1955 and moved to England at the age of three. She left school with just five O-levels. But after evening classes and A-levels, she then went to the London School of Economics and became a barrister in 1981. She made her name as the youngest council chief in the country.

From 1987, she worked in local government, becoming Deputy Chief Executive of Hammersmith and Fulham in 1989. She became Chief Executive of Merton before being appointed to the post of Chief Executive of Lambeth in 1995. Under her charge, Lambeth did not entirely shed its image of a poorly-run council but was seen as more forward-thinking, dynamic and youthful. There were significant improvements in housing, education and council tax collection.

Upon leaving Lambeth, in March 2000, Rabbatts became Chief Executive of iMPOWER, a public sector consultancy, which she founded. She subsequently became co-chair of iMPOWER and moved on to be Managing Director of Channel 4’s education programmes and business, 4Learning.