The Female Advisory Board (FAB), a peer advisory institution for senior female business leaders, has announced Amy Archer as founding Chair of FAB Vanguard – the organisation’s newest and most senior board tier, created for women leading businesses with revenues of £20m+ and operating in complex, board led environments.
Amy brings extensive experience as a COO and board director following 23 years at a major East Yorkshire manufacturing company, where she helped scale the organisation to over £300m in revenue and 1,200+ employees. Her appointment marks an important milestone for FAB as the first time a board has been chaired by someone other than FAB Founder and CEO Samantha Addy.
FAB Vanguard is a peer advisory board tier created specifically for women operating at this level of scale and leadership complexity. Members are running businesses within formal governance structures, answering to private equity partners, investors, boards and shareholders, often without the structured peer support available at other stages of leadership.
Vanguard completes a three-tier ecosystem that now serves female founders and leaders across the full growth journey:
FAB Scale: for women running businesses at £500k–£3m revenue
FAB Enterprise: for women running businesses at £3m–£20m revenue
FAB Vanguard: for women running businesses at £20m+ revenue inside formal governance structures
A founder, CEO or MD can join FAB at £500k in revenue and progress through each tier as her business grows, while remaining within the same methodology and standards.
FAB Chairs are trained through a proprietary programme that draws on peer advisory best practice, executive coaching competency frameworks, and leadership development methodologies from professional services and executive education. The programme includes a six-pillar performance framework, quarterly assessment, and a certification process.
Samantha Addy, Founder and CEO of FAB, said: “Welcoming Amy Archer as the founding Chair of FAB Vanguard is a significant milestone for FAB and for the women this tier is built to serve. Amy has operated at exactly the level our Vanguard members are navigating now as they lead at scale within formal governance structures, carrying decisions that shape the future of a business and the livelihoods of the people within it. She brings the credibility, commercial sharpness and peer advisory expertise that Vanguard demands.”
The Rose Review, commissioned by HM Treasury, identified £250bn of untapped economic potential if women started and scaled businesses at the same rate as men. Women already operating at £20m+ are demonstrating what that scaling can look like, and Vanguard is intended to provide structured peer support at that stage.
Amy Archer, FAB Vanguard Chair, said: “Throughout my career, I’ve been fortunate to work with supportive leaders, but even in the best environments, senior roles can feel isolating. What FAB offers is something I’ve not seen before – a structured, commercially focused peer advisory board created specifically for female founders and CEOs.
“If something like FAB had existed during my own scaling journey, it would have given me a confidential space to test decisions, gain perspective and accelerate my thinking. My aim for every Vanguard session is for members to leave with real clarity, renewed confidence and practical actions they can implement straight away.”
FAB is headquartered in Yorkshire and is preparing to expand into new regions across the UK, with international expansion to follow.
