Penny Endersby

Penny Endersby
CBE FREng HonFInstP
Chief Executive of the Met Office
Incumbent
Assumed office
December 2018 (2018-12)
Preceded byRob Varley
Personal details
BornPenelope Clare Endersby
February 1970 (age 56)[1]
Children2
EducationHaberdashers' Aske's School for Girls
University of Cambridge

Penelope Clare Endersby CBE FREng HonFInstP (born 1970)[1] is a British scientist and senior civil servant originally specialising in armour and explosives. She was appointed chief executive of the Met Office in December 2018. Prior to that, she led cyber and information systems at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL).[2]

Education and early career

Endersby grew up in north London with an engineer father, who worked for British Gas, and a mother who was a full-time homemaker folllowing a degree in classics at Oxford.[3] She was privately educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls, Elstree. She studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, and was an undergraduate student at Newnham College, Cambridge.[4] She remains an associate of Newnham.[5] Here she became interested in materials science and metallurgy.[6] She was sponsored by British Gas, researching fuel cells.[7]

Research and career

After graduating, she joined the Royal Armament and Research Development Establishment in 1993.[4]

Endersby started her career as a researcher specialising in armour and explosives. She served at the Royal Armament and Research Development Establishment, becoming the "UK expert on electric and intelligent armours".[4]

She was appointed as the department manager at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down in 2009. She began to focus on C4ISR and cyber security.[7] She served on the board of Ploughshare Innovations, the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom) technology transfer office.[8][9]

She holds visiting professorships at University of Southampton in computer science and at Exeter University in Physics and the Environment.[7] Endersby was made division head of Cyber and Information Systems Division at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in 2015.[4] She was involved in their International Women's Day celebrations.[10][11][12]

One of the first engineers chartered to the Institute of Physics (IoP), Endersby joined the council of the IoP in 2017.[13]

Endersby was appointed chief executive at the Met Office in December 2018, the first woman to fill that role.[14]

In 2021 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng)[1][15] and awarded the British Computer Society medal for her outstanding contribution to green technology. [16]

Endersby was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to meteorology, defence science and technology.[17][1]

Endersby is the UK’s permanent representative to the World Meteorological Organisation [18] and a member of their Executive Council. As UK delegate to the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast she was elected president (the first female in the role) in 2023. [19]

Personal life

Endersby is an expert choir singer. A member of the St Peter’s Singers, she has also recorded with The Farrant Singers, Chamber Choir, Salisbury.

A lay canon,[20] Endersby is the first Canon Scientist at Exeter Cathedral.[7] She has two children.[7] She is interested in wildlife and records UK phenology.[6] She is a trustee of the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust.[21] She is chair of the Dartmoor Steering Group [22]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Anon (2025). "Endersby, Penelope Clare". Who's Who (177th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 2720. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U297201. ISBN 9781399411837. OCLC 1427336388. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ↑ Mooney, Attracta (2026). "Met Office chief Penney Endersby: 'There is not going to be a usual summer'". ft.com. London: Financial Times.
  3. ↑ Mooney, Attracta (24 July 2026). "Met Office chief Penny Endersby: 'There is not going to be a usual summer'". The Financial Times. Retrieved 28 July 2026.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Professor Penny Endersby - Welcome to the WISE Campaign". Welcome to the WISE Campaign. Archived from the original on 19 October 2018. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  5. ↑ "Penelope Endersby". Newnham Associates - Newnham College, Cambridge. Archived from the original on 19 October 2018. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  6. 1 2 "Penny Endersby - Future Worlds". Future Worlds. 7 September 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "Professor Penelope Endersby - Defence Science". defencescience.blog.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  8. ↑ "Ploughshare announces two new board members". GOV.UK. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  9. ↑ "ECS Visiting Professor appointed to Ploughshare Innovations board". University of Southampton. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  10. ↑ "Dstl – Supporting National Women in Engineering Day 2016". GOV.UK. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  11. ↑ "Dstl – Supporting International Women in Engineering Day 2017". GOV.UK. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  12. ↑ "Dstl want to 'see many more women studying STEM subjects at school, college and university'". WeAreTheCity. 23 June 2017. Archived from the original on 19 October 2018. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  13. ↑ "Extending our reach" (PDF). IOP. 2007. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  14. ↑ "Professor Penelope Endersby to be new Met Office Chief Executive". Met Office. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  15. ↑ "Academy celebrates first new Fellows elected under Fit for the Future diversity initiative". Royal Academy of Engineering. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  16. ↑ "Met Office CEO awarded BCS Society Medal for outstanding contribution to green tech". Retrieved 25 September 2024.
  17. ↑ "No. 64269". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2023. p. N10.
  18. ↑ "Penny Endersby". 11 August 2023. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
  19. ↑ "AI weather forecasts can't stand alone for now, says head of UK Met Office". 8 March 2024. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
  20. ↑ "Bishop welcomes new lay canons". 22 September 2023. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  21. ↑ "Our Trustees". Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  22. ↑ "Dartmoor Steering Group and Working Party". Retrieved 14 September 2024.
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