Karren Brady - Biography
NAME
Karren BradyCOUNTRY OF BIRTH
EnglandINDUSTRY
Sports Management and MediaTOP ACHIEVEMENTS
Sporting LeadershipKarren Brady began her career in advertising sales, where she met and impressed David Sullivan. He soon hired her as a Director at Sport Newspapers, at the age of 20 . While working for Sullivan, Brady noticed an advertisement for the sale of Birmingham Football Club, which was then going into receivership. She convinced Sullivan to buy the club for £700,000 and let her manage it. In 1993, aged 23, she became the Managing Director of Birmingham FC. By 1996, Brady had taken the club from the brink of receivership to a profitable entity by displaying a tenacious work ethic and initiative. In 1997, she listed the club on the stock market, making her the youngest ever Managing Director of a PLC in the UK. In 2002, when the club was promoted to the English Premier League, Brady became the first woman to hold such a position at the top of English football. She left the club in 2009, when the owners sold the it for £81.5 million. Brady's meteoric rise to prominence in the football world led to her becoming known as "the first lady of football". She quickly moved into a new role as Vice Chairman of West Ham FC in 2010. Brady swiftly negotiated a deal for the club to move into the new Olympic stadium in 2016. She serves on the Department for Culture Media & Sport's WISAB (Women in Sport Advisory Board) to help increase the status, influence and increase participation of women in the world of sport.
Television and Media Personality
Karren Brady's best known media appearance is on the BBC program The Apprentice, where she is the right hand woman to Sir Alan Sugar. She has also hosted her own show and presented programs for the ITV television channel. Brady is a regular columnist in The Sun newspaper, writes for Woman & Home Magazine, and has published four books – two of them novels.
Her high profile has resulted in Brady being in demand as a public and motivational speaker. She speaks about achieving goals, team building, leadership and management to business groups, and also gives her time to schools and youth programs, to help motivate and provide career guidance and advice to young people entering the job market.
Political Career
In September 2013, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced Brady's appointment as the government's Small Business Ambassador. In 2014, she became a Life Peer in the House of Lords, and her title in turn became Baroness Brady.
Industry Recognition
Karren Brady has won many awards for her services to business, including being named Business Woman of the Year and most Inspirational Woman of the Year. In December 2008, she won the Spirit of Everywoman Award for services to women in business, and in 2012 she was awarded the fcbusiness Magazine CEO of the Year Award at the Football Business Awards.
ADDITIONAL FACTS
- Born in 1969 in London, to an Irish father and an Italian mother, Brady attended Poles Convent, a boarding school in Ware, Hertfordshire and Aldenham School, Elstree.
- Brady is married to footballer Paul Peschisolido, who played for Birmingham City for two years. The couple have two children together and live in Warwickshire.
