Dame Tamara Finkelstein DCB

Dame Tamara Finkelstein DCB is CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering, which promotes engineering excellence and technology innovation for public benefit. 

Tamara is a trained engineer and economist, and has supported the work of the Academy in government as a champion of the Policy Fellowships programme, and participant in the pilot Senior Policy Fellowships programme.  

She has also fulfilled a number of charity leadership and advisory roles, including as Vice-chair of Norwood, a charity for vulnerable children and people with learning disabilities.  

She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath (DCB) in the 2025 New Year Honours for public service.     

Prior to her current role, Tamara had a long and successful career as a senior leader in the civil service, most recently as Permanent Secretary of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). In this role, she led the department through Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic, during which she oversaw the government’s response to food supply issues.   

As Director General, Building Safety, at Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Tamara created the government’s building safety programme in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire. As Leader of the Policy Profession in government she also worked closely with the science and engineering profession to raise science and engineering capability in policy professionals, raising the percentage of STEM graduates in the policy fast stream from 9% to 31% over the five years to 2025.