Liv Garfield
Liv Garfield | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Olivia Garfield speaking at The London Conference on Cyberspace, 2011 | |
| Born | Olivia Ruth Burgess |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Bootham School, York |
| Alma mater | New Hall, Cambridge |
| Occupation | Chief executive |
| Title | Chief Executive of Severn Trent plc |
| Term | April 2014- |
| Predecessor | Tony Wray |
| Successor | Incumbent |
| Spouse | Morgan Garfield |
| Children | Two sons |
Olivia Ruth Garfield CBE (born 10 September 1975) is a British businesswoman. She is the chief executive of Severn Trent, and formerly the chief executive of Openreach, a BT Group business.
Early life
Olivia was raised in Harrogate.[1] Her parents, who were originally from Liverpool, run a project management and engineering business in Harrogate. Her grandfather was the groundsman at Goodison Park.[1] She was educated at Birklands Belmont School (now Belmont Grosvenor) in Birstwith near Harrogate, followed by the co-educational Bootham School, an independent school in York.[citation needed] She had an ambition to be a presenter of Blue Peter. She read German and French (Modern and Medieval Languages) at the all-female New Hall, Cambridge, now Murray Edwards.[1]
Career
After graduating, she spent a year working at the British Consulate in Brussels.[2] She then worked at Accenture as a consultant in their communications and high-tech market division for six years.[3]
BT
In January 2003, she joined BT as general manager, running a desk-based sales team.[3] She later became BT's director of strategy and regulatory affairs.[3] On 1 April 2011 she was made chief executive of their Openreach division; Openreach had been formed in 2006.[4][5] In that position, she spearheaded and oversaw the £2.5 billion rollout of fibre broadband (BT Infinity service) to two thirds of the UK.[3] In March 2017, BT received the biggest Ofcom fine ever due to inappropriate use of the Deemed Consent to delay Ethernet provision to other providers, which started while she was CEO.[6] In 2013, Garfield was identified by Fortune Magazine as one of the world's fastest-rising corporate stars. In 2014, Fortune called her the 14th Most Powerful Woman in Europe, Middle East, and Africa.[7]
Severn Trent
In April 2014, she became the chief executive of Severn Trent.[8] In July 2015, while she was the chief executive of Severn Trent she oversaw the takeover of Severn Trent Water Purification, a subsidiary of Severn Trent Plc, by Italian company DeNora [9] which resulted in redundancies. Then in November 2017, the company announced plans to sell its surplus land.[10] As of May 2018, Garfield's role at Severn Trent made her the youngest female CEO of a FTSE 100 company.[11]
She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to the water industry.[12]
Tesco
In February 2013, she became a non-executive director at Tesco. She stepped down in February 2015.[13]
In May 2018, Garfield was announced as the 2018 winner of the prestigious Veuve Cliquot Business Woman Award.[11]
Personal life
Her husband Morgan Garfield (born 22 January 1976), whom she met at university when he was at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, runs a property investment fund.[citation needed] She has two sons, niece and a sister and brother. She married in 2002 in North Yorkshire.
See also
- Andrew Duff (businessman), Chairman of Severn Trent since July 2010, and former Chairman of RWE npower from 2003–09.
- Véronique Laury, French CEO of Kingfisher plc since February 2015
- Moya Greene, Canadian CEO of the Royal Mail from July 2010
- Dame Carolyn McCall, CEO of EasyJet since 2010
References
- ^ a b c "Profile - Olivia Garfield: A winning strategy pays off for a woman on her way to the top". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
- ^ "Telecom star Liv Garfield set for splash landing". Independent.co.uk. 19 November 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
- ^ a b c d "Subscribe to read". Financial Times. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
{{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help) - ^ "Liv Garfield to become CEO of Severn Trent". Managementtoday.co.uk. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "BT fined record £42m for delayed installations". News.sky.com. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
- ^ "Liv Garfield". Fortune. 9 October 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
- ^ "Severn Trent's Liv Garfield vows to keep 'lowest bills' after". Independent.co.uk. 29 May 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
- ^ "De Nora takes over Severn Trent Water Purification". Water World. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- ^ "Severn Trent announces plans to sell surplus land". Financial Times. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
- ^ a b Johnson, Jamie (10 May 2018). "Liv Garfield wins business woman of the year title". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
- ^ "No. 63135". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 October 2020. p. B9.
- ^ "Two NEDs say 'bye bye' to Tesco". Management Today. Retrieved 3 March 2018.