Poole started her career working for the
Church Commissioners for England between 1993 and 1997. From 1998 to 2002, she worked as a
Change management consultant for
Deloitte, specialising in capital markets and the public sector. In 2002, she joined the faculty at
Ashridge Executive Education to teach
leadership and was the Deputy Director of the Public Leadership Centre. Ashridge was acquired by
Hult International Business School in 2014. Poole now is on the Hult EF Global Advisory Council and is a Visiting Fellow of their Leadership Lab. In June 2015, she became the first female Chair of the Board of Governors of
Gordonstoun School. In 2018, Poole became the
Third Church Estates Commissioner, one of the most senior
lay people in the
Church of England, in succession to Andrew Mackie. As Commissioner, she was a member of the Church Commissioners' Board of Governors and the
General Synod of the Church of England. She also chaired the Bishoprics & Cathedrals Committee and the Mission, Pastoral and Church Property Committee. During her term she successfully introduced the Cathedrals Measure 2021, which modernises cathedral governance and places Church of England cathedrals under the regulatory ambit of the
Charity Commission for the first time. She was Interim CEO of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2022, and Interim CEO of the
Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland between 2023–2024. In September 2024, Poole became Executive Chair of the Woodard Corporation;
Woodard Schools is a group of
Anglican schools (both primary and secondary) which have their origin in the work of
Nathaniel Woodard. Poole has also been a
research fellow of the
William Temple Foundation and the
St Paul's Institute. She was on the management boards of
Theos and of Faith in Business at
Ridley Hall, Cambridge. She was a founding director of the Foundation for Workplace Spirituality (2007–2014), a trustee of the Foundation for Church Leadership (2006–2012), and trustee and deputy chair of the Christian Association of Business Executives (2005–2011). She is a Life Fellow of the
Royal Society of Arts and a Visiting Scholar in Human Flourishing at
Sarum College. Poole was appointed
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the
2023 New Year Honours for services to education and gender equality. In January 2024, she was installed as Canon Prebendary of Newthorpe at
York Minster where she is a
lay canon on Chapter. In May 2025 she was made a Fellow of the
International Society for Science and Religion for her work on religion and AI. == Selected works ==