Who was in charge of running the British Secret Service during World War II as noted in the biography, A Woman of No Importance?

The SOE ran the British Secret Service in World War II. The organization was responsible for organizing, staging, and maintaining Resistance activities designed to weaken the Nazis, as well as providing information to the Allied armies that would help them win the war. It was run by wealthy older men who in most cases had difficulty acknowledging the contributions of women in general, and Virginia in particular; eventually, however, they were won over.