Rennie Fritchie, Baroness Fritchie

Who is Rennie Fritchie, Baroness Fritchie?

Irene Tordoff "Rennie" Fritchie, Baroness Fritchie, DBE is a British civil servant.

Born the daughter of Charles Frederick Fennell, she was educated at Ribston Hall Grammar School for Girls in Gloucester, she has had a long career specialising in training and development. Now described as a "portfolio" worker, Lady Fritchie holds various positions in addition to that of United Kingdom Commissioner for Public Appointments, including President of the Pennell Initiative for Women’s Health in Later Life.

In 1960 she married Don Jamie Fritchie with whom she had two children, the elder dying in 1991. She was widowed in 1992.

In the 1970s, she was one of the first full-time women's training advisers and pioneered the training of staff in the then new Equal Opportunities Commission. Using a German Marshall Fellowship awarded in 1985, she drew lessons from the United States of America for the United Kingdom for programmes to improve the status of women. She has published extensively on these topics and contributes regularly on them to programmes on television and radio.

She became Commissioner for Public Appointments in 1999. This appointment was renewed in 2002 and 2005. She became Chairman of Nominet in 2010. She holds a number of positions outside government. She holds an honorary Professorship in Creative Leadership at York University and is Pro-Chancellor at Southampton University, a Civil Service Commissioner and Vice-Chair of the Stroud and Swindon Building Society. Active in a number of charities, Fritchie has been awarded honorary degrees by a number of academic institutions.