Julia Middleton is the Founder and Chief Executive of Common Purpose. She is a passionate campaigner for more - and more diverse - leaders who are active in civil society

In the autumn of 1988, partly influenced by the success of the Community Leadership Programmes in America, Julia formed Common Purpose. Within the first three months she had persuaded the Government and private companies to part with half a million pounds in sponsorship to start the first programmes. Julia became Chief Executive of Common Purpose in January 1989. The organisation aims to improve the way society works by increasing the number of informed individuals who are actively involved in shaping the future of the area in which they live and work. By bringing leaders from diverse backgrounds together, Common Purpose creates new networks for senior decision-makers.

Common Purpose is developed world-wide through Common Purpose International and currently runs programmes in Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland and South Africa .

Julia was born in London, although her family comes from Bolton. As a child she lived in several European cities and in New York where her father worked in international trade. She was educated at French state schools throughout, returning to Britain at the age of 16 to take her Baccalaureate at the French Lycee in London. She then got an Economics degree from the London School of Economics.

She began her working life in employee relations at the Industrial Society, working within companies across the United Kingdom on their briefing and consultative systems. She then worked briefly for Petrofina before returning to the Industrial Society in 1985 to take it into the new field of training for unemployed young people. She established the Head Start in Inner Cities programme, providing school-leavers from inner city areas with training and professional advice direct from would-be employers. By 1988 Head Start was running in twenty UK cities and had trained over 10,000 school-leavers.

In 2003, Julia created OpenGround, a new type of gathering designed to stimulate and nourish society's thinkers and doers at the highest levels, as well as create bridges between different communities of leaders. OpenGround is organised by Common Purpose and is run twice annually.

Julia is married to Rupert Middleton, has five children and lives in Hackney, London. Julia is an independent assessor for public appointments for the DTLR, a trustee of the Impetus Trust and a Trustee of the Arab Learning Initiative.