Jasmine Whitbread

Jasmine Mary Whitbread (born 1 September 1963) is the chief executive of London First, an independent, non-profit organisation whose mission is to make London the best city in the world to do business.[1] She was CEO of Save the Children from 2005 until 2015; firstly leading Save the Children UK and in 2010, creating Save the Children International.

Jasmine Whitbread
CEO of London First
Assumed office
2016
Personal details
Born
Jasmine Mary Whitbread

(1963-09-01) 1 September 1963
London, England
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom and Switzerland
Spouse(s)
Howard Exton-Smith
​
(m. 1994)​
ChildrenTwo
EducationKneller Girls' School
Alma materUniversity of Bristol

Early life and education

Whitbread was born in London on 1 September 1963.[2] Her mother, Ursula Whitbread, is Swiss and her father, Gerald Whitbread, is English.[2][3] She was educated at Kneller Girls' School, then an all-girls comprehensive school in Twickenham, London.[4] In 1986, she graduated from the University of Bristol with a bachelor's degree in English.[2][3]

She later returned to university study. In 1998, she completed the executive program at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University.[5]

Career

Whitbread began her career in marketing. From 1986 to 1988, she was a marketing manager at Rio Tinto Computer Services. She then moved to the United States and was director of global marketing at Cortex Corporation.[2][6] From 1990 to 1992, she was in Uganda with the Voluntary Service Overseas as a management trainer at the National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda.[2][7] From 1994 to 1999, she was a managing director of Thomson Financial (now Thomson Reuters).[2]

She then joined Oxfam GB, where she was regional director for West Africa from 1999 to 2002, then international director from 2002 to 2005.[2] In 2005, she joined Save the Children UK as chief executive officer (CEO); she was the first woman to head the charity.[2] After five years, she was appointed CEO of Save the Children International.[2] She stepped down from the role on 31 December 2015.[8] In December 2016, she became the chief executive of London First.[9]

On 19 January 2011, Whitbread was appointed to the board of BT as a non-executive director, where she is a member of the Committee for Sustainable and Responsible Business and the Audit and Risk Committee.[10] On 1 April 2015, she was appointed an independent non-executive director of Standard Chartered where she chairs the Brand, Values and Conduct Committee.[11] She has served on the United Nations Commission on Life-Saving Commodities, which was jointly chaired by Goodluck Jonathan and Jens Stoltenberg, and issued recommendations to increase access to and use of 13 essential commodities for women’s and children’s health.[12]

In August 2019 she was appointed a non-executive director at WPP plc effective from 1 September 2019 serving as a member of the Compensation Committee.[13]

Whitbread regularly blogged for the Financial Times during the annual World Economics Forum in Davos.[14] In 2013, she featured in the CNN Leading Women series.[15] Acting as an ambassador for women in leadership, Whitbread spoke on the Evening Standard's panel debate with Cherie Booth QC, in 2012.[16]

Personal life

In 1994, Whitbread married Howard Exton-Smith.[2] Together, they have two children.[2][3]

Whitbread holds British/Swiss dual nationality.[17]

Honours

In 2013, Whitbread was named one of the UK’s 100 most powerful women by BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.[4][18] On 28 January 2014, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Bristol.[3]

References
  1. "About | London First". londonfirst.co.uk. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
  2. "WHITBREAD, Jasmine". Who's Who 2015. Oxford University Press. November 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  3. "Jasmine Whitbread". Public and Ceremonial Events Office. University of Bristol. 28 January 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  4. "Jasmine Whitbread". Woman's Hour. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  5. "Jasmine Whitbread". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  6. Benjamin, Alison (8 November 2006). "Powers of persuasion". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  7. Lynch, Andrew (24 March 2013). "Leading edge: Jasmine Whitbread". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  8. Farey-Jones, Daniel. "Jasmine Whitbread to leave Save the Children International". Third Sector. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  9. Kirton, Hayley (3 October 2016). "This is London First's new chief executive". Retrieved 3 January 2017.
  10. "Jasmine Whitbread". BT Plc. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  11. "Jasmine Whitbread". Standard Chartered. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  12. Composition of the Commission Life-Saving Commodities Practitioners’ Network.
  13. "WPP appoints Jasmine Whitbread to the Board". WPP.
  14. "Davos Day Three – press round-up". Financial Times. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
  15. Becky Anderson. "Save the Children CEO: 'Our bottom line is children's lives' - CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
  16. "Women on boards debate: Banking crisis 'helped women stake place in". Evening Standard. 5 September 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
  17. "Our CEO, Jasmine Whitbread". Save the Children. Archived from the original on 23 June 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  18. "Top 100 Powerful Women in the UK Today". Alumni and friends. University of Bristol. 12 February 2013. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.