The 50 most influential women in UK IT 2016

Dido Harding is chief executive of TalkTalk Telecom Group. Previously, she was Sainsbury’s convenience director, having been appointed to the firm’s operating board in March 2008. Harding joined Sainsbury’s from Tesco, where she held a variety of senior roles in its UK and international businesses. Before that, she worked at Kingfisher and Thomas Cook where she gained considerable retail experience. Harding was appointed as a non-executive director on the court of the Bank of England in July 2014. She has also served on the boards of the British Land Company and Cheltenham Racecourse. In August 2014, Harding was offered a peerage and now sits in the House of Lords as a Conservative peer.