Wendy Alexander

The Right Honourable The Baroness Alexander of Cleveden FRSE
Official portrait, 2003
Leader of the Scottish Labour Party
In office 14 September 2007 – 28 June 2008
Deputy	Cathy Jamieson
UK party leader	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Jack McConnell
Succeeded by	Iain Gray
Ministerial offices Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning[1] In office 1 November 2000 – 3 May 2002 First Minister Henry McLeish Jim Wallace (Acting) Jack McConnell Preceded by Henry McLeish (Enterprise and Lifelong Learning) Sarah Boyack (Transport and Planning) Succeeded by Iain Gray Minister for Communities In office 19 May 1999 – 1 November 2000 First Minister Donald Dewar Jim Wallace (Acting) Preceded by Position established Succeeded by Jackie Baillie
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 February 2025 Life Peerage
Member of the Scottish Parliament for Paisley North
In office 6 May 1999 – 22 March 2011
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	(1963-06-27) 27 June 1963 (age 61) Glasgow, Scotland
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Relations	Douglas Alexander (brother)
Children	2
Alma mater	University of Glasgow University of Warwick INSEAD

Wendy Cowan Alexander, Baroness Alexander of Cleveden (born 27 June 1963) is a retired Scottish politician and the former Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Paisley North. She held various Scottish Government cabinet posts and was the Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2007 to 2008. In June 2008, the Scottish Parliament's standards committee ruled that Wendy Alexander broke parliament rules by failing to register donations on her MSPs' register of interests. Wendy Alexander quit as Scottish Labour leader. In 2010–2011 she convened the Scotland Bill Committee on financial powers of the Scottish Parliament.

After leaving politics, she was appointed Associate Dean of Global Business and Associate Dean for Degree Programmes and Career Services at the London Business School. From 2015 to late 2024 she was Vice-Principal (International) and Professor of International Education by the University of Dundee.^[2][3][4]

In March 2016 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for her work for the university sector.^[5] On 30 November 2017, she was appointed as the Scottish Government Trade and Investment Envoy for Higher Education.^[6]

Alexander is a member of UK Government's DIT/DfE Education Sector Advisory Group and chairs the Global Advisory Board of the Times Higher Education Student.^[7]