Marie-France van Heel

Marie-France van Heel (born January 1970) is a marketing executive. She is married to Andy Burnham, the prime minister of the United Kingdom and the leader of the Labour Party.

Early life and education Van Heel was born in January 1970 to Dutch parents. She was born in Roslyn, Pennsylvania, US. In the late 1980s, she moved to the United Kingdom to study English at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.

Career After graduating from the University of Cambridge, van Heel worked in various roles in marketing across a variety of companies. She worked at Sky and was among the team that worked on the logo designs for the BBC and England Rugby. She became chief strategy officer for London-based campaign designer Heavenly in 2022, joined the board of directors of Manchester-based electric vehicle charging network Be.EV in 2024, and became chief marketing officer of the latter's parent firm Iduna Infrastructure.

At the time of Burnham's 2026 Labour Party leadership election campaign, she was sitting on the board of humanitarian organisation Plan International. With them, she had worked with Marie Curie, Alzheimer's Society, Great Ormond Street Hospital, and Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.

Personal life Van Heel and Burnham married in 2000, and have a son and two daughters. Van Heel joined Burnham for his 2015 Labour Party leadership election campaign but subsequently avoided the public eye.