Jill Shaw Ruddock

In 1983, Jill moved to London to co-head the consulting firm , The Government Research Corporation. In 1985, she joined the US investment bank Alex Brown & Sons and became their Managing Director and Head of their London office in 1994. In 1999, she left finance and became involved in the theatre world, fundraising and sitting on the main boards of The Donmar Warehouse (until Nov 2012) and The Mousetrap Theatre Projects. In addition to her theatre involvement, she is a board member of Bowdoin College Museum of Art. She was a trustee of Bowdoin College for ten years.

In 2008, Jill began to research and write her book, The Second Half of Your Life, published in the UK by Ebury/Random House in February 2011 (10th printing). The book has been heralded as “one of the most important women’s books for a decade”, “ground-breaking”, “inspirational” and “the manual for women in the second half of their life.” In 2011, Jill set out to expand upon the ideas in her book and to make her words literally come to life. In May 2011, The Second Half Foundation( Reg 1141988) was approved by the UK Charities Commission with the purpose of creating The Second Half Centre in the NHS St Charles Centre for Health and Wellbeing . Using the five components of successful ageing, as detailed in Jill’s book, the Foundation aims to tackle isolation and loneliness for any person over the age of 50, The first Second Half Centre opened its doors to the public on October 29th 2012. The Second Half Centre currently has over 1500 members and hosts 68 hours of activities, classes and workshops weekly. The Second Half Foundation will now embark on their mission to template the model for ageing created at St Charles in London, throughout London and the rest of the UK. The Second Half of Your Life Foundation was selected by the Mayor of Kensington and Chelsea as her charity for 2011/2012. Jill Shaw Ruddock is the winner of the 2011 Veuve Clicquot “Woman of the Year Tribute”, the 2012 Jewish Care Woman of Distinction Award, and the 2012 Common Good Award from Bowdoin College. Jill was named one of Kensington’s 25 most inspirational people by The Hill magazine. She is married to Sir Paul Ruddock and has two daughters, Sophie and Isabella.