Vicky Pryce

Vasiliki "Vicky" Pryce (' Kourmouzi''' (Βασιλική Κουρμούζη); born 15 July 1952) is a Greek-born British economist and a former Joint Head of the United Kingdom's Government Economic Service.

She is currently the Chief Economic Adviser at the Centre for Economics and Business Research, in London, where she is also a board member.

In 2023, Pryce joined the British Chambers of Commerce's newly-launched Economic Advisory Council as a senior member.

She is a visiting professor at Birmingham City University and King's College London.

After university she had, according to Ned Temko, a "glittering career" as an economist and then chief economist at Williams & Glyn's Bank (now part of the Royal Bank of Scotland) from 1973 to 1983; as corporate economist for Exxon Europe from 1983 to 1986; and as chief economist at Peat Marwick McLintock and KPMG from 1986 to 2001.

When having a child, she took six weeks off for each one.

She left KPMG at Blackfriars in late 2001, and worked for the London Economics consultancy.

As of December 2021, she is on the advisory board of OMFIF where she is regularly involved in meetings regarding the financial and monetary system.

In 2023, Pryce became a senior member of the British Chambers of Commerce's newly-launched Economic Advisory Council.

The council was established to build on the organisation's Quarterly Economic Survey and "develop policies to get the economy and businesses growing".

Pryce is also patron of Pro Bono Economics and of the charity Working Chance.

She is a trustee for Women in Prison and is a Freeman and Liveryman of the City of London.

Pryce joined the Department for Trade and Industry in August 2002 as Chief Economic Adviser, the first woman to be appointed to the post, for which the salary was about £110,000.

She was also Chairwoman of the GoodCorporation, an organisation promoting ethical business practices.

She was a visiting professor at City University's Cass Business School from 2002 to 2006 and from 2008 to 2011, and at Imperial College Business School since 2010; a visiting Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, since 2008; a Fellow of the Society of Business Economists since 2005; and the council of the Royal Society for the Arts from 2008 to 2009.

She sat on the Council of the University of Kent and was a Member of the Council of the Royal Economic Society (REconS) from 2002 to 2007.

Pryce was Deputy Head of the UK Government Economic Service from 2004 to 2007, and Joint Head from 2007 to 2010.

In April 2010, it was announced that she would be leaving the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills where she was Director General, Economics, and Joint Head of the Government Economic Service, to become senior managing director at the finance consultancy firm FTI Consulting.

In 2010 she became the first female Master of the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants.

As of 2021, Pryce is a visiting professor at Birmingham City University and King’s College London.

She is also a Fellow and council member of the UK Academy for Social Sciences, a Fellow of the Society of Professional Economists, a companion of the British Academy of Management, an Honorary Senior Fellow at Regent’s University and on the Regent’s University Court, and a fellow of the RADIX centre for Business, Politics and Society.

This title, released in late 2022, is a guide for students working towards successful careers in economics.

The authors, Vicky Pryce, Andy Ross, Alvin Birdi and Ian Harwood, walk readers through the interview process for graduate positions and the attributes that employers are looking for.

Video interviews are also available with the purchase of the book.

Dr Matthew Aldrich, Associate Professor in Economics at the University of East Anglia, described the book as "original" and said "there is no comparable text I know of and the pragmatic issues are covered extremely well".

Jarkko Immonen, a careers counsellor at the University of Helsinki, called it a "comprehensive hands-on look at the world of work from an economist's point of view with an emphasis on opportunities and societal relevance".

The book was published by Oxford University Press.

Subtitled “why we can’t have it all in a free market economy”, Women Vs Capitalism is an urgent call to reform capitalism so that it “stops failing women”.

On 7 March 2013, she and her former husband, Chris Huhne, were convicted of perverting the course of justice and sentenced to eight months in prison, when she was convicted after trial and Huhne pleaded guilty.

They each served nine weeks in prison.

Pryce was born in Athens, the middle of three children, described as being "out on the town" at the age of 11, coming home at all hours and later riding a motorbike.

She moved to London at the age of 17.

She studied at the LSE, gaining a BSc in Economics and an MSc in Monetary Economics.

She was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 2009 Birthday Honours but this was cancelled and annulled on 30 July 2013 following her release from prison.

This 2015 title sets out to be an incisive and accessible voter’s guide to the economy.

It answers questions such as “does immigration help or harm the UK economy?” and “are austerity measures the best way to tackle a financial meltdown?”.

It was published by Biteback Publishing and was written with Andy Ross and Peter Urwin.

Published in 2015 as part of Biteback Publishing’s Provocations series, edited by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Why Women Need Quotas was written with former management editor of the Financial Times, Stefan Stern.

Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves wrote in The Observer that the 2019 book was “fantastic” and “shines a much-needed light on discrimination”.

In The Guardian, Polly Toynbee said it was a “long overdue dissection of the vital subject of gender equality through Vicky Pryce’s forensic economic lens”.