Mary Perkins running PR. She has admitted donning disguises and visiting Specsavers stores, posing as a customer. Perkins was made an honorary fellow of Cardiff University in 2005. The same year she received the "Rotary International Community and Vocational Service Award" for her services to charity and in 2006 won the inaugural Spirit of everywoman Award. Perkins was the first female optician in the UK to receive the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2007. The accolade was also in recognition of her other charitable work, including the Guernsey annual "Specsavers Liberation Tea Dance for
Lesley Strathie Lesley Strathie Dame Lesley Ann Strathie, DCB (née Cooke; 24 September 1955 – 14 January 2012) was a British senior civil servant. Lesley Ann Cooke was born in Stranraer, Scotland in 1955. She married David Strathie in 1974; the couple divorced in 1996). They had two children: a son (who predeceased his parents) and a daughter. Lesley Strathie was educated at Stranraer Academy and began her civil service career at age 16 at Scotland's then-Department of Health and Social Security, before moving to London in 1984. She was named Chief Operating Officer of Jobcentre Plus in 2003, and succeeded David