ChairVirgin Unite
Holly Branson was born in 1981 and is the daughter of Sir Richard and Lady Branson. Holly spent her formative years in London, Oxford and the British Virgin Islands.
Holly attended St. Edward's School, Oxford, followed by 6 years at University College London where she pursued her long-held dream of becoming a doctor along with completing an BSc in physiology. On finishing in 2007, Holly began working at Chelsea and Westminster hospital as a junior NHS doctor.
In August of 2008, Holly joined the Virgin Group. After a year of undertaking an internship throughout all of the Virgin companies Holly joined the management team at Virgin Management. Now Holly’s time is spent as an active participant of the Virgin Group Partnership team forming a greater understanding of all Virgin companies and prospective new companies and spearheading innovative internal people related projects such as the Virgin Purpose initiative and Unlimited Leave.
Holly is Chair of Virgin Unite (the Virgin Group foundation) and Big Change - a charity that Holly and her brother set up with some friends which focuses on improving the lives of young people in the UK. She is also a Patron of Free the Children UK, Co-Chair of We Day UK and a Patron of Virgin Money Giving.
Holly loves adventure and to challenge herself. She has climbed Mont Blanc (to launch Big Change), attempted to break the mono hull sailing record across the Atlantic, and completed several marathons and sprint triathlons. Holly’s next challenge will be as a Core Team member of the Virgin Strive Challenge 2016. In September 2016 the core team will hike 90km into Northern Italy, cycle the entire length of Italy, swim to Sicily, mountain bike to the foothills of Mount Etna before running a half-marathon to the summit of the infamous volcano. The entire challenge is over 2,000km. Holly can’t wait to get started!
She currently lives in London and is married to Freddie Andrewes with twins Etta and Artie.