Clare Barclay has joined an elite brigade of UK tech figureheads to receive a Damehood or Knighthood.
Matching the honours bestowed on the likes of Dame Stephanie Shirley, Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Sir Jony Ive, the Microsoft exec was today granted a Damehood for services to business, technology and leadership in His Majesty’s Birthday Honours.
In a LinkedIn post, Barclay said she was “speechless” to receive the honour, which means she is entitled to pre-fix her name with the title ‘Dame’.
Former Microsoft UK channel boss Barclay was the only UK leader to be voted into IT Channel Oxygen’s recent Century’s 30 Greatest Vendor Leaders rundown.
In October, she relinquished the Microsoft UK CEO hotseat after four years, becoming President, Enterprise and Industry for the EMEA region at the software giant.
She joined Microsoft as a channel sales and marketing manager way back in 1998 before heading up partner strategy between 2005 and 2010.
£2.5bn investment bonanza
Barclay last November presided over what she characterised as “the single largest investment” in Microsoft’s UK history as the vendor committed to spending £2.5bn to expand its AI datacentre infrastructure here.
That investment was highlighted by the Cabinet Office in its Birthday Honours blurb as it said Barclay contributed an estimated £38bn to the UK economy during her tenure as UK CEO.
“She is an advocate for diversity, inclusion and social mobility and has connected 300,000 people to technology and AI job opportunities, especially promoting the technology sector to people from diverse and underprivileged backgrounds,” the Cabinet Office stated.
The Dames Commander Society estimates there are just 660 living Dames.
Good company – other noteable tech Damehood and Knighthoods
Sir Peter Rigby
The SCC founder was knighted in 2002 for his contribution to the IT sector.
Ranking 7th in the Oxygen 250 2025, the Birmingham-based reseller celebrates 50 years in business this year.
Today, it forms just part of a wider £3.7bn-revenue Rigby Group empire whose interests span not only technology but also airports, hotels and real estate.
SCC’s UK business is eclipsed in size by its French arm – so much so that Rigby became the first British businessman to ever be awarded the prestigious Legion d’honneur, or Legion of Honour (the highest award in the French order of merit) in 2021.
Dame Stephanie Shirley
Tech industry pioneer Shirley received a Damehood for services to the IT industry and philanthropy in 2000.
A child refugee who fled Nazi Germany, she went on to found an all-woman software company that pioneered remote working. It was ultimately valued at almost $3bn and made 70 of her staff millionaires (see more here).
Since ‘retiring’, her work has been in philanthropy, with a particular focus on autism and IT.
In 2017, she became one of just 65 individuals globally to be appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour.
Sir Jony Ive
The former Apple design chief was knighted in 2012 for his services to design and enterprise.
Like Barclay, Ive was among the UK tech figureheads to make IT Channel Oxygen’s recent Century’s 30 Greatest Vendor Leaders rundown.
Chingford-born Ive is now collaborating with OpenAI, whose CEO Sam Altman last month branded him “the greatest designer of the world”.
The duo are partnering in the name of “completely re-imagin[ing] what it means to use a computer”.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee
The inventor of the World Wide Web was knighted in 2004 for services to the global development of the internet.
The London-born scientist and academic was named one of Time Magazine’s ‘100 Most Important People of the 20th Century’.
Now 70, Berners-Lee continues his search for a more benign online world today.
