Cecile Leyla Boulton

Leyla Boulton was elected in March 2025 on three pledges: better governance at the corporation; common sense care for the built and natural environment, and greater public participation in the 2029 elections. She is a senior editor at the Financial Times where she serves on the Senior Management Group as Development Editor for FT Live, the FT’s events business. As liaison for the FT’s Financial Literacy and Inclusion Campaign, she commissions FT journalism to support the charity’s mission of democratising understanding of money. Previously the Executive Editor of FT Special Reports, Leyla has been a driver of editorial innovation and commercial success.

She started as a correspondent in Paris, Brussels, Moscow, and Turkey, covering the break-up of the Soviet Union and the rise of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. As the FT’s Environment Correspondent, she reported on everything from climate negotiations in Kyoto to corporate sustainability. In 2022-25 she co-led a neighbourhood campaign for planning reform to facilitate the retrofit of listed and conservation-area buildings.

Leyla studied Modern Languages at Cambridge University and completed executive programmes at Stanford and Oxford business schools. She was highly commended at the 2019 Asian Women of Achievement Awards.

A UK-US national, Leyla is married, with two children.