Mary Ann Sieghart

Mary Ann Sieghart
Sieghart in 2021
Born	(1961-08-06)6 August 1961 Hammersmith,London,England
Occupation(s)	Journalist,broadcaster
Notable credit(s)	The Times Newshour The Independent
Spouse	David Prichard
Children	2
Relatives	William Sieghart(brother)

Mary Ann Corinna Howard Sieghart(born 6 August 1961)is anEnglishauthor, journalist, radio presenter and former assistant editor ofThe Times,where she wrote columns about politics, social affairs and life in general. She has also written a weekly political column inThe Independent.Her best-selling book,The Authority Gap: Why Women Are Still Taken Less Seriously Than Men, and What We Can Do About It,was published by Transworld/Doubleday in July 2021.

OnBBC Radio 4,she has been a presenter ofStart the Weekand has also presentedFallout,Analysis,Profile,One to OneandBeyond Westminster,as well as many one-off documentaries.She is a visiting professor atKing's College Londonand chaired theSocial Market Foundation,an independent think tank, from 2010 to 2020.She has been a non-executive director of theOfcomContent Board, a member of theTate ModernCouncil, and is currently a Non-Executive Director of the Guardian Media Group, non-executive director of two large FTSE investment trusts: Pantheon International and The Merchants Trust plc, and a Trustee of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Kennedy Memorial Trust. She was Chair of Judges for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2022. In 2018, she was named as one of the Female FTSE 100 Women to Watch.

She was appointed a Visiting Fellow ofAll Souls College,Oxford,for the academic year 2018–19, where she researchedThe Authority Gap.She has since been an Associate Member of Nuffield College, Oxford (2019–20) and a Senior Academic Visitor at Oriel College, Oxford (2020-21). She is now a visiting professor atKing's College London.

Early life

Sieghart was born inHammersmith,Londonin 1961, the daughter of Paul Sieghart, a Vienna-born human rights lawyer, campaigner, broadcaster and author, and Felicity Ann Olga Howard Sieghart (née Baer),chairman of theNational Association for Gifted Children,magistrate and later managing director of theAldeburgh Cinema.Her father, whose parents divorced when he was two, was raised Catholic as his maternal grandfather Rudolf Sieghart (né Singer) had converted from Judaism. This did not prevent them from being persecuted by the Nazis, thus he and his mother fled to Switzerland and then England.

Her older brother isWilliam Sieghart.Sieghart was privately educated at bothCobham Hall SchoolandBedales School.She won a scholarship toWadham College, Oxford,when she was 16, and graduated with a first-class degree inPhilosophy, politics and economicsin 1982.

Career

Sieghart's abilities were admired byBill Deedes.Deedes hired her to work atThe Daily Telegraphduring the 1980 university summer vacation, where she spent time sub-editing, working on the "Peterborough" column and on features. She returned for subsequent vacations and again took on various roles, including writing some leaders. Deedes notes that "Let loose on the leader page, Mary Ann wove a sometimes startling liberal thread through theDaily Telegraph'sblue tapestry. "He offered her a job on graduation but simultaneously advised her to apply elsewhere because theDaily Telegraphwas in financial trouble.

After Oxford, Sieghart joined theFinancial Times,where she becameEurobondCorrespondent and then aLex columnist.She spent a summer in 1984 working forThe Washington Post,as theLaurence Stern Fellow.From theFT,she was recruited to be City Editor ofTodaynewspaper at its launch in 1986. When it was taken over byTiny Rowland,she moved toThe Economistto be Political Correspondent. She also presentedThe World This WeekonChannel 4.

In 1988, she joinedThe Times,as editor of the comment pages. During her time there, she was also Arts Editor, Chief Political leader-writer and acting editor of the paper on Mondays. In 1995, she chaired the revival ofThe Brains TrustonBBC2.

In 2003,Bill Hagerty,editor of theBritish Journalism Review,described Sieghart as "very talented" but criticised her assumption thatbroadsheetjournalism in newspapers such asThe Timeswas intrinsically better or more effective thantabloid journalism.In 2007, she leftThe Timesto pursue a portfolio career.From 2010 to 2012, she wrote the main opinion column inThe Independenton Mondays.

Sieghart is a regular broadcaster. She was an occasional presenter ofStart the Weekon Radio 4 and presentedNewshouron theBBC World Servicefrom 2008 to 2010: she has also presentedAnalysis,Fallout,Profile,One to OneandBeyond Westminsteron Radio 4. She has often appeared on programmes such asQuestion Time,Any Questions,Newsnight,Today,The World TonightandWoman's Hour.She was a regular co-presenter ofStart the Weekduring the timeMelvyn Braggwas the programme's main presenter and has been a guest presenter ofThe Week in WestminsterandDispatch Box.

Other activities

Sieghart is visiting professor atKing's College Londonand Non-Executive Director of the Guardian Media Group, Pantheon International and The Merchants Trust plc. She was Chair of Judges of the Women's Prize for Fiction 2022. Until recently, she was chair of theSocial Market Foundation,and also sat on the boards of theHenderson Smaller Companies Investment Trust,DLN Digital Ltd, the Council ofTate Modernand the Content Board ofOfcom.She is senior trustee of the Kennedy Memorial Trust, trustee of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, and has previously served as a trustee of the Radcliffe Trust,Heritage Lottery Fund,steering committee member of theNo CampaignandNew Europe,member of the Advisory Board of the Social Studies Faculty at Oxford University and other voluntary posts.

Personal life

Sieghart, eligible for both Austrian and German citizenship, applied for German in 2018.

Sieghart suffers fromprosopagnosia,which makes it difficult to recognize familiar faces.Her mother, husband, and one of her children suffer from the same condition.

External links

• Official website
• "Mary Ann Sieghart | The Authority Gap: Why Women Are Still Taken Less Seriously Than Men..."YouTube.Author Events (Free Library of Philadelphia). 23 February 2022.(in conversation with Tracey Matisak, broadcast journalist formerly ofWTXF-TV)
• "The Authority Gap w/ Mary Ann Sieghart".Talk Nerdy.14 March 2022.(hosted byCara Santa Maria)
• "The Authority Gap with Mary Ann Sieghart".YouTube.Liberal Voice for Women. 15 March 2022.(in conversation with Councillor Alison Jenner, civil parish ofCumnorinOxfordshire)